A high-ranking Chinese delegation will travel to North Korea this week in the first foreign visit undertaken by Kim Jong-un’s regime since Pyongyang closed the country’s borders three years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported.

The Chinese delegation will be headed by Li Hongzhong, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, who will take part in the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

North Korea closed all its borders in early 2020, including cutting off trade and diplomatic exchanges, due to fears about the spread of the coronavirus.

The situation has caused a food crisis unprecedented since the famine of the 1990s, but data on the scale of the disaster are limited by the extreme secrecy of Kim Jong-un’s regime.

North Korean media, which announced the visit on Monday, did not say whether it would in any way represent a change in policy in this regard or would merely be an exception to the rule.

Li, who is also vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, will visit North Korea “to participate in the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War,” Pyongyang’s state broadcaster KCNA said.

North Korea calls “Victory Day” July 27, 1953, when the armistice that ended the Korean War was signed.

Large-scale events are planned for this year’s anniversary.