New China-North Korea bridge to open on Oct 15

The opening of the new bridge signals further progress in bilateral relations between Beijing and Pyongyang, weeks after North Korea opened its first road bridge with Russia.

14 Oct 2026 12:08PM

BEIJING: A long-delayed bridge linking China and North Korea will open on Thursday (Oct 15), according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, in another sign of deepening economic relations between the neighbours.

The two sides will jointly hold an opening ceremony, the report said. 

The New Yalu River vehicle bridge, a four-lane structure spanning 3,026m, links China's northeastern border city of Dandong to one of the most isolated countries in the world.

China had completed its side of the bridge in 2014. North Korea, however, had left its approach roads and customs facilities unfinished as relations soured over Pyongyang's nuclear tests and the UN sanctions that followed.

The opening of the new bridge signals further progress in bilateral relations between Beijing and Pyongyang, weeks after North Korea opened its first road bridge with Russia.

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 to the decades-old Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, which was once regularly used by passenger trains but has limited capacity.

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.

"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," he added.

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.

China is North Korea's largest trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the reclusive nuclear state.

Its exports to North Korea rose to a six-year high of US$2.3 billion last year, a 25 per cent increase over the previous year. That was still well short of levels from before the UN sanctions were imposed in 2017.