The opening of the new Yalu River Bridge has been delayed for 12 years as China strives to restore its influence over North Korea

On Thursday (October 15), a new bridge connecting China and North Korea was officially opened after more than a decade of delays, marking a further deepening of relations between the two countries.

According to China's official Xinhua News Agency, the opening ceremony of the new Yalu River Bridge was held on the same day. An online video released by the state-run China News Agency showed trucks waiting to pass on the bridge, which was decorated with the national flags of China and North Korea.

This two-way four-lane bridge is 3 kilometers long and connects the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong and the North Korean city of Sinuiju. Beijing expects the bridge to further promote economic, trade and "people-to-people" exchanges between the two sides.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered a video speech at the ceremony and said: "China-North Korea relations are entering a new stage and opening a new chapter."

Li Qiang said the bridge will become a new landmark symbolizing the traditional friendship between the two countries, Xinhua News Agency said. He hoped that the two sides would take the opening of the bridge as an opportunity to continue to strengthen interconnection and tap the cooperation potential in the border areas.

North Korean Prime Minister Park Tae-sung also delivered a video message.

Observers say the new bridge could boost bilateral trade and improve logistics efficiency. It is expected to relieve the burden on an old bridge on the Dandong-Sinuiju line. This old bridge is responsible for more than 70% of the official trade between the two countries. The decades-old bridge carries trains as well as cars and trucks, but vehicles can only travel in one direction at a time.

"The new bridge may facilitate trade that violates U.N. sanctions, but traffic on the bridge may be more transparent and easier to accept customs supervision than cross-border smuggling," Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Seoul's Ewha Womans University, told the Associated Press.

The bridge was originally expected to be put into use in 2014. At that time, China had apparently completed construction on its own side, but North Korea had not carried out corresponding supporting projects.

The delay in substantial construction on the Sinuiju side has triggered various speculations from the outside world: Pyongyang may be worried about becoming more economically dependent on China, or it may be dissatisfied with Beijing's vote to support a United Nations resolution that strengthened international sanctions due to North Korea's nuclear program. Some observers also believe that North Korea and China also have differences on the location of the bridge.

The obstruction of the bridge prompted the Global Times, a newspaper owned by the Communist Party of China, to publish a rare and sharp report. The report quoted Dandong residents expressing their dissatisfaction with the project delays - they had hoped that the bridge would bring economic dividends to the border city.

The opening of the new Yalu River bridge comes about a month after North Korea and Russia opened a road bridge as part of efforts to cement ties.

Experts say Chinese officials may be uneasy about the bridge's opening.

China has long been North Korea's largest trading partner and economic lifeline. But in recent years, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has had particularly warm relations with Moscow, sending large numbers of soldiers and conventional weapons to Russia to support Putin's war in Ukraine in exchange for military and economic aid.

Recently, Kim Jong-un has been getting closer to China, aiming to improve his country's economy and build a front against the United States. China, for its part, hopes to restore its unique influence over North Korea.

In 2025, approximately 98% of North Korea's foreign trade will be with China. The South Korean government said last year that there were at least 17 road and rail corridors in use on the more than 1,400-kilometer-long, loosely controlled border with China.

"Economically, China remains indispensable to North Korea, which cannot be replaced by Russia. If traffic on the bridge is significantly interrupted in the future, the bridge may inadvertently become a window into bilateral relations," Easley told The Associated Press.