China-North Korea bridge to open Thursday, CCTV says

The New Yalu River Bridge between China and North Korea will open on Thursday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said, 12 years after the crossing was completed.

The four-lane, 3,026-metre vehicle bridge links Dandong in northeastern China with North Korea. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that the opening had been delayed because of issues including a lack of connecting roads and customs facilities on the North Korean side.

The crossing is intended as an alternative to the decades-old Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, which has limited capacity and was once regularly used by passenger trains.

Ahn Chan-il, a researcher originally from North Korea, told AFP that crossings over the Yalu River bridges in Dandong had been limited in scale, but that hundreds of vehicles could cross the new bridge each day after it opens. He said it could become a route for Chinese goods and resources into North Korea and give its economy a significant boost.

South Korea's unification ministry told AFP that Seoul is closely monitoring the situation around the bridge's opening.

China is North Korea's largest trading partner and a major source of diplomatic, economic and political support. North Korea sealed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, and train journeys between the two countries restarted in March after a six-year halt.

North Korea has not resumed issuing tourism visas to Chinese citizens. The bridge opening comes just over a month after North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge, which Pyongyang described as a sign of closer relations.