North Korea and Russia inaugurated their first road bridge on Monday, according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, opening a new crossing over the Tumen River that both governments described as a significant step in their deepening strategic partnership.
The new bridge stands close to the existing “Friendship Bridge,” a rail crossing that was put into service in 1959 in the years after the Korean War.
Moscow and Pyongyang are already connected by direct air and rail routes.
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Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said the road bridge is expected to support broader cooperation between the two countries, including in tourism, while also helping generate new jobs.
“I am convinced that the expansion of cross-border transport infrastructure will provide a powerful impetus for the further development of trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation,” Mishustin said during the opening ceremony, which he addressed by video link, TASS reported.
Construction of the new bridge, which had been under discussion for years, began in April last year after its construction was agreed during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to North Korea in 2024.
The two countries’ ties have grown stronger since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 with Pyongyang sending thousands of troops to Russia’s Kursk region to help repel a 2024 Ukrainian incursion there.