On Wednesday, Russia and North Korea marked the start of construction of the first highway bridge connecting the two nations. In a teleconference with North Korean Cabinet Premier Pak Thae Song, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin called the bridge “truly a landmark moment for Russian–Korean relations,” adding that its significance “goes far beyond a mere engineering task.”
The bridge, slated for completion in a year and a half, will span the Tuman River in Primorsky Krai, totalling almost 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) with access roads included. The bridge itself will span 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) and accommodate two lanes of traffic. At present, Russia and North Korea are connected only by rail and air routes. Transportation officials say Russia’s border checkpoint at the bridge is designed to process “300 vehicles and 2,850 people per day, with the capacity to expand.”
The agreement to build the bridge was reached during Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea in June 2024, when Moscow and Pyongyang signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement. This latter pact later facilitated the deployment of North Korean soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region to join combat operations against Ukrainian incursion forces.