North Korea appears to be quarantining emergency COVID-19 aid it picked up from China last week via its first international flights in over two years, NK Pro satellite imagery analysis reveals, raising questions about the urgency of the operation. 

Three Air Koryo Il-76 cargo planes appeared to collect the aid in Shenyang just north of the China-DPRK border on May 16, before reappearing on the rarely used northern runway of the Pyongyang International Airport, according to Planet Labs imagery from May 17. 

As of May 24, the three planes appeared in their same abnormal positions, surrounded by objects