North Korea and Russia open new road bridge over Tumen River to boost cooperation

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea and Russia have opened a new road bridge over the Tumen River, Pyongyang's state media reported Tuesday, calling it key infrastructure to help "revitalize" multifaceted cooperation.

The opening ceremony took place the previous day in Rason in North Korea and Khasan in Russia, virtually attended by North Korean Premier Pak Thae-song and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The construction began in April last year, following a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2024 in Pyongyang.

The bridge would "ensure the safe passage of various kinds of vehicles and personnel traffic," the KCNA said, offering "a guarantee for building up and reinforcing an important infrastructure for economic cooperation between the two countries and revitalizing multi-faceted cooperation including human exchange, tourism and commodity circulation."

Calling the bridge a "new symbol" of friendship between the two countries, Pak said it adds "a new dynamic movement to the overall bilateral cooperation."

The relations between the two countries "have been put on an unprecedentedly high level of comprehensive strategic partnership," Mishustin said, according to the report.

"Russia would as ever do its utmost for the multifaceted development of the bilateral relations," he added.

The bridge was named after Yakov Novichenko, a Soviet Red Army officer credited with saving the life of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung in 1946, according to the KCNA.

It reflects the two countries' "steadfast will of the leaderships and peoples of both countries to invariably develop the good-neighborly relations between the two peoples into genuine comradely relations of trust," the report said.

Until now, the only crossing between North Korea and Russia was a rail bridge over the Tumen River.

The new bridge comes as Pyongyang and Moscow have deepened their alignment since North Korea's troop deployment in support of Russia's war against Ukraine, raising concerns the new infrastructure could further boost military cooperation.