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Photos: China and North Korea open new border bridge amid deepening ties

The New Yalu River Bridge connects Dandong, China, and Sinuiju, North Korea, enhancing regional trade and collaboration.

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A Chinese patrol vessel travels along the Yalu River as trucks adorned with Chinese flags cross the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge into North Korea's Sinuiju from China's Dandong New Zone, as seen from Dandong, Liaoning province, China. [Florence Lo/Reuters]
A Chinese patrol vessel travels along the Yalu River as trucks adorned with Chinese flags cross the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge into North Korea's Sinuiju from China's Dandong New Zone, as seen from Dandong, Liaoning province, China. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

The New Yalu River Bridge connects Dandong, China, and Sinuiju, North Korea, enhancing regional trade and collaboration.

A Chinese patrol vessel travels along the Yalu River as trucks adorned with Chinese flags cross the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge into North Korea's Sinuiju from China's Dandong New Zone, as seen from Dandong, Liaoning province, China. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

The opening of a long-delayed bridge linking China and North Korea underscores the deepening ties between the two neighbours as Pyongyang courts both Beijing and Moscow to ease its economic isolation.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said a launch ceremony was held on Thursday for the New Yalu River Bridge, which connects the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong with the North Korean border city of Sinuiju.

Video from state media showed trucks decorated with the national flags of both countries lined up on the four-lane span, which itself was festooned with Chinese and North Korean flags.

In a video address, Chinese Premier Li Qiang hailed the bridge as a “new landmark” of the countries’ “traditional friendship” and urged both sides to use the opening to deepen connectivity and explore new cooperation in border areas, Xinhua reported. North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song also delivered a video message.

The 3km (1.8-mile) road bridge is expected to ease pressure on the ageing Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, a decades-old structure on the same route that carries a railway line and vehicles but can accommodate only one-way traffic at a time.

More than 70 percent of official trade between the two countries currently goes through that crossing, according to Chinese data. The South Korean government has counted at least 17 active road and rail links along the 1,400km (870-mile) North Korea-China border.

The New Yalu River Bridge was completed on the Chinese side about 2014 and initially was expected to open that year. But no corresponding work was carried out in Sinuiju, and the project stalled for more than a decade. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

A truck adorned with North Korean flags enters the Chinese side of the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

Dandong residents come to see the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

The delay in the bridge's opening fuelled speculation that Pyongyang was wary of increased economic dependence on China or displeased that Beijing backed United Nations sanctions resolutions targeting North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. Some analysts also suggested the two governments had disagreed over the location of the crossing. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

Frustration over the holdup was notable even in Chinese state-linked media. The Communist Party-affiliated Global Times carried unusually sharp comments from Dandong residents who had hoped the bridge would bring an economic boost to the border city. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

Police officers keep watch near a cordoned-off waterfront before the opening ceremony for the New Yalu River Bridge. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

The opening comes about a month after North Korea and Russia launched a road bridge to facilitate their growing cooperation, including Pyongyang’s supply of troops and conventional weapons to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance, according to Western officials. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent years has visibly prioritised ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he has recently moved to draw closer again to China in an apparent bid to revive North Korea’s struggling economy and consolidate an alliance against the United States. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

China remains North Korea’s dominant economic lifeline. Last year, about 98 percent of the country’s external trade was with China. Analysts say the new bridge will likely boost bilateral trade and improve logistical efficiency over time, even as overall economic engagement remains constrained by international sanctions. [Florence Lo/Reuters]

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