North Korea and Russia have opened their first road bridge, marking another step in their growing strategic partnership as ties between the two countries deepen.
The 1-kilometre, two-lane bridge across the Tumen River opened on Monday in a carefully choreographed display of friendship, with the first flag-adorned trucks crossing the new route.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song joined the opening ceremony by video link, addressing workers and government officials from both countries.
Mishustin described the bridge as a “genuinely historic event”, saying it would give fresh momentum to trade and cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
“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,” he said, adding that bilateral ties were at an “unprecedented high level”.
He also described the structure as a new “symbol of friendship”, while noting that up to 300 vehicles could cross it each day.
The bridge will be connected to Russia’s federal road network and provide access to a transport corridor linking the far eastern city of Vladivostok with St Petersburg. Trucks will immediately begin using the route to transport cargo, while passenger traffic is expected to be permitted once the bridge becomes fully operational at the end of this year.
Construction began in April last year after the project was agreed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea in 2024.
Although Moscow and Pyongyang already have direct air and rail connections, the two countries previously had no proper road link. Since 1959, vehicles have crossed the border using planks laid across the nearby railway bridge, which had been the only border crossing between the countries.
The new bridge was built near the existing Friendship Bridge, a railway crossing commissioned in 1959 following the Korean War.
The road bridge has been named after Yakov Novichenko, a Red Army soldier whom Pyongyang credits with saving the life of North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung in 1946 by intercepting a grenade thrown at him and others.
North Korean state media KCNA reported on Tuesday that the bridge would provide important infrastructure for expanding economic cooperation, including tourism, people-to-people exchanges and trade.
Relations between North Korea and Russia have strengthened significantly since Russia launched its war in Ukraine in 2022. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia’s Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion in 2024.
Mishustin referred to the cooperation in his speech, praising “the Korean heroes who, only recently, fought shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers and defended Russian soil”.
South Korean Kyungnam University professor Lim Eul-chul said the bridge highlighted how international sanctions against North Korea were becoming increasingly ineffective.
“While North Korea is trying to maximise its own interests, Russia has secured a direct road route for the transport of military supplies, ammunition and manpower, including troops, for its prolonged war in Ukraine,” he said.
