Seoul, Oct 15 (IANS): North Korea has opened a key sea route on the western coast to receive humanitarian aid deliveries following its closure attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Unicef office in Seoul said on Friday.

The UN agency has begun shipping medical supplies from the Chinese port of Dalian to North Korea's Nampo and plans to deliver more items, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"The sea route from China's Dalian to Nampo has been opened," Oren Schlein, the head of the Seoul liaison office for Unicef, said during a peace forum held in Incheon, west of Seoul.

"Some medical supplies have been shipped (to North Korea), and more will be delivered."

North Korea had tightened border controls since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic was first reported in China in December 2019, closing sea and land routes for key materials and medical supplies sent by UN agencies and other humanitarian groups.

Marian Yun, a senior policy advisor at World Food Program, said Pyongyang needs to ease its border restrictions to receive crucial aid to address its food shortage.

"The WFP's food stockpile in North Korea has already run out this year," Yun said.

"The most important factor in North Korea's food situation is whether or not its government approves the deliveries of humanitarian aid."

Last week, the World Health Organization said it had started the shipment of Covid-19 medical supplies to North Korea through Dalian, raising the possibility that the reclusive state might be easing its long-enforced tight border controls amid the global pandemic.

Pyongyang has claimed to be coronavirus-free and rejected outside help for its anti-pandemic campaign for fear that any shipment could spread the virus to its soil.