A bridge connects North Korea with China in China's northern Jilin province. A Chinese-operated bus resumed service to the northeastern North Korean city of Rason on Monday. UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver | License Photo

SEOUL, March 16 (UPI) -- North Korea has allowed a Chinese-operated bus service to resume service in the border area between the North Korean city of Rason and the Chinese town of Hunchun on Monday.

Yonhap reported the bus service was suspended five months ago, when North Korea restrictions related to Ebola mandated a 21-day quarantine for all travelers.


The bus runs a weekly round-trip route and began in 2012 with funding from a Chinese investor. Immediately after North Korea's lift of the travel ban, the company announced on March 3 that service would begin again.

Travelers are required to not only hold a passport but also a request or a North Korean invitation that grants them border access.

Rason is one of few major North Korean cities that are industrializing under the auspices of North Korea's neighbors. It is also a designated special economic zone.

Yonhap reported large-scale Chinese investments in the northeastern city of Rason ceased after February 2013, when North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, the third in seven years. But small to medium-sized manufacturing enterprises have continued to grow and trade with China has been brisk, due to a supply of electricity from Russia.

Despite international sanctions that block North Korea's access to revenue, North Korea has found alternative ways to make money.

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The Washington Post reported that at the Chinese border city of Dandong, which faces the North Korean town of Sinuiju, factories operated by North Koreans are allowed to bring in profits for the regime. The Hyundai Research Institute in South Korea estimated North Korea's economy will grow by nearly 7 percent, and Dandong thrives with North Korea-related businesses.

But according to economist Barry Eichengreen and others, North Korea's economy is relatively small compared to South Korea's. Even if South Korea "grows at only 3 percent per year" it "expands annually by an amount equivalent to the size of North Korea's economy."