China and North Korea officially opened a bridge linking the two\ncountries\u2019 mainland territories on Thursday (15 October), local time,\nafter years of delay. The opening took place 12 years after construction\nof the bridge was completed.<\/p>\n
The bridge is intended to revive trade and economic activity after\nrelations between the two countries deteriorated for several years,\nwhile the COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted cross-border exchanges.<\/p>\n
The New Yalu River Bridge, Reuters and AFP reported on Thursday (15\nOctober 2026), stretches 3 kilometres \u2014 3,026 metres to be precise \u2014\nover the Yalu River, which separates China and North Korea. North Korea\ncalls it the Amnok River.<\/p>\n
The bridge connects Dandong in China with Sinuiju in North Korea. It\nhas four lanes and is reserved for motor vehicles.<\/p>\n
A Chinese customs facility stands at the end of the 1.3-kilometre\napproach. Activity there has increased in recent days. Trucks decorated\nwith Chinese flags were seen waiting on the bridge ahead of the opening\nof cross-border traffic on Thursday (15 October), local time.<\/p>\n
Crowds also gathered on the Chinese side of the border, along a road\noverlooking the bridge. Chinese and North Korean flags were displayed\nalong the cable-stayed structure, whose towers rise high above the\nriver.<\/p>\n
\u2018This is wonderful,\u2019 said a woman who had come to watch the opening\nin Dandong, a quiet border city in northern China.<\/p>\n
\u2018Ten years have passed. This will certainly be good for business,\u2019\nshe said, asking not to be named.<\/p>\n
The bridge was completed in 2014, but its opening was delayed because\nconnecting roads and a customs complex on the North Korean side had not\nbeen completed. Pyongyang also closed its borders during the COVID-19\npandemic.<\/p>\n
The new bridge is intended to provide an alternative to the\ndecades-old China\u2013North Korea Friendship Bridge, which crosses the Yalu\nRiver elsewhere.<\/p>\n
On Thursday (15 October), China\u2019s Xinhua news agency reported that\nthe two countries had held an inauguration ceremony for the new bridge.\nNorth Korean state media had not reported on the ceremony.<\/p>\n
The opening marks progress in bilateral relations between Beijing and\nPyongyang, following two summits between the countries\u2019 leaders over the\npast year.<\/p>\n
China remains North Korea\u2019s largest trading partner, even after a\nseries of UN sanctions prohibited the flow of goods and movement of\nworkers to and from North Korea in response to its development of\nmissiles and nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
Lim Eul Chul of Kyungnam University\u2019s Institute for Far Eastern\nStudies said the bridge was \u2018unlikely to trigger a full resumption of\ntrade immediately, at the level seen before sanctions\u2019.<\/p>\n
However, Lim said, the bridge would facilitate the transport of heavy\nequipment, raw materials and energy products needed for various\ndevelopment projects in North Korea.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bridge-linking-china-and-north-korea-officially-opens-with-trucks-queuing-1792039937", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }