Russia and North Korea have opened the first road bridge linking the two countries, signaling closer diplomatic and economic cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
The two-lane bridge over the Tumen River will initially handle up to 300 vehicular crossings every day, giving drivers access to Russia’s federal road network that runs from Vladivostok in the far east to St. Petersburg in the west, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at the opening ceremony on Sept. 7.
Trucks will be able to use the bridge immediately for transporting cargo, with the expectation that passenger traffic will be using the route by the end of the year, the Russian government said.
The cooperation between the two countries has increased since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, with Pyongyang sending thousands of troops to aid Moscow.
Appearing via videolink alongside North Korean Prime Minister Pak Thae-song to address workers and government officials in both countries, Mishustin called the opening of the bridge a “genuinely historic event” and a “new symbol of friendship.”
“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,” said the Russian prime minister.
There are already direct air and rail links between Moscow and Pyongyang, but this is the first proper roadway. Until now, planks had to be placed on the nearby “Friendship” rail bridge, by special arrangement, in order for vehicles to cross.
The Friendship Bridge was commissioned in 1959 after the ceasefire was declared in the Korean War and remained the single land crossing point for decades.
The new bridge is named after Soviet soldier Yakov Nobichenko. He is credited by North Korea with saving the life of the country’s first leader, Kim Il Sung, by intercepting a grenade thrown at him in 1946.
North Korean state media outlet KCNA said on Sept. 8 that the completion of the bridge will aid the two countries in developing closer economic cooperation, trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.
North Korean Troops
During his speech, Mishustin made reference to North Korean soldiers “who, only recently, fought shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers and defended Russian soil,” referencing the troops Pyongyang sent to assist in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Late last month, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said North Korea was preparing to deploy additional troops to Russia, but that there were no signs that such a deployment was imminent.
South Korean lawmaker Rep. Yoo Yong-won said on Aug. 24 that a report he received from the South Korean Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said that North Korea has deployed more than 16,000 troops to Russia since October 2024, with many of them believed to have been killed or injured.
The DIA said that Pyongyang is also believed to have provided Russia with more than 15 million rounds of artillery shells and weapons systems, including short-range ballistic missiles.
The week prior, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, denied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that Pyongyang was planning to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia to fight in Ukraine.
On Aug. 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his North Korean counterpart that Moscow and Pyongyang were working to establish a “new and righteous world order,” after North Korean soldiers helped drive Ukrainian forces from a Russian region in 2025.
Lavrov said in a message to North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui that the participation in service personnel from the Korean People’s Army “is a clear proof of the tradition of the militant friendship forged by the heroic preceding generations.”
Reuters and Owen Evans contributed to this report.
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