North Korea, Russia open first cross-border road bridge amid deepening ties

North Korea and Russia have opened a new road bridge over the Tumen River Pyongyangs state media reported on Tuesday calling it key infrastructure to help revitalise multifaceted cooperationThe opening ceremony took place the previous day in Rason in North Korea and Khasan in Russia virtually attended by North Korean Premier Pak Thaesong and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin reports Yonhap quoting the Korean Central News Agency KCNAThe construction began in April last year following a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jongun and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2024 in PyongyangThe bridge would ensure the safe passage of various kinds of vehicles and personnel traffic the KCNA said offering a guarantee for building up and reinforcing an important infrastructure for economic cooperation between the two countries and revitalising multifaceted cooperation including human exchange tourism and commodity circulationCalling the bridge a new symbol of friendship between the two countries Pak said it adds a new dynamic movement to the overall bilateral cooperationThe relations between the two countries have been put on an unprecedentedly high level of comprehensive strategic partnership Mishustin said according to the report Russia would as ever do its utmost for the multifaceted development of the bilateral relations he addedThe bridge was named after Yakov Novichenko a Soviet Red Army officer credited with saving the life of North Korean founder Kim Ilsung in 1946 according to the KCNAIt reflects the two countries steadfast will of the leaderships and peoples of both countries to invariably develop the goodneighbourly relations between the two peoples into genuine comradely relations of trust the report said Until now the only crossing between North Korea and Russia was a rail bridge over the Tumen RiverThe new bridge comes as Pyongyang and Moscow have deepened their alignment since North Koreas troop deployment in support of Russias war against Ukraine raising concerns that the new infrastructure could further boost military cooperationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever