New China-North Korea bridge to open on Oct 15: Chinese state media
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The New Yalu River bridge links China’s north-eastern border city of Dandong to North Korea’s Sinuiju.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- The New Yalu River bridge between Dandong and North Korea will open on Oct 15, Chinese state media said, after 12 years of delay.
- The four-lane, 3,026m bridge was finished in 2014, but opening was held up by missing roads and customs facilities on the North Korean side.
- The bridge may boost trade and vehicle traffic, giving North Korea more Chinese goods, while South Korea says it is “closely monitoring” the move.
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BEIJING – A new bridge linking China and North Korea will open this week, Chinese state media reported on Oct 14, 12 years after its construction, in another sign of deepening economic relations between the Asian giant and its poor neighbour.
The New Yalu River bridge, which will open on Oct 15 according to state broadcaster CCTV, links China’s north-eastern border city of Dandong to one of the most isolated countries in the world.
The four-lane structure spanning 3,026m was completed in 2014 but saw its opening delayed due to issues such as the lack of connecting roads and customs facilities on the North Korean side, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the isolated nuclear state.
North Korea sealed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, and train journeys between the East Asian neighbours only restarted in March after a six-year halt.
The new bridge is intended as an alternative and eventual replacement of the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, which was once regularly used by passenger trains but has limited capacity.
“Until now, exchanges across the Yalu River bridges in Dandong have been relatively limited in scale, but once the new bridge opens, hundreds of vehicles could cross it every day,” Ahn Chan-il, a researcher originally from North Korea, told AFP.
“The bridge could become a conduit for China’s abundant goods and resources to flow into North Korea and give its economy a significant boost.”
South Korea’s unification ministry told AFP that Seoul is “closely monitoring” the situation regarding the bridge’s opening.
North Korea has not yet resumed issuing tourism visas to Chinese citizens, who once made up the bulk of its overseas visitors.
The opening of the New Yalu River Bridge comes just over a month after North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge, with Pyongyang lauding it as a sign of tightening relations.
While North Korea’s trade with Russia largely involves military supplies, exchanges with China could arguably involve goods that North Korea needs the most to develop its civilian economy, analysts say. AFP