{"id":146303,"date":"2026-09-07T18:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T18:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/146303\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T18:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T18:22:16","slug":"russia-north-korea-open-first-ever-road-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/146303\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia, North Korea Open First-Ever Road Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tovima.com\" onclick=\"gtag(&#039;event&#039;, &#039;google-preferred-source&#039;);\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"google-preferred-source\" aria-label=\"\u039cake us preferred on Google\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"41\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/article-google-button.png\" alt=\"Google Button\"\/> \u039cake us preferred on Google <\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Russia and North Korea have opened their first direct road link, a bridge spanning the Tumen River that marks a new milestone in the deepening partnership between the two countries. The crossing connects Russia\u2019s Khasan district with the North Korean border town of Tumangang, running about a kilometer over the river itself and roughly 4.7 kilometers including its approach roads.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-570397\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-570397\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/North-Korea-Bridge2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-570397\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flags fly during a ceremony opening the first road bridge between Russia and North Korea across the Tumen River, locally known as Tumannaya, on the border with North Korea in the Primorsky region, Russia, September 7, 2026, in this still image taken from a video. Governor of the Primorsky region Oleg Kozhemyako Telegram Channel\/Handout via REUTERS<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Until now, the two countries were connected only by a rusting Soviet-era rail bridge built in 1959, along with limited air travel. The new two-lane road bridge is designed to carry passenger cars, buses, and freight trucks, and officials say the border crossing will eventually process up to 300 vehicles and 2,850 people a day.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Construction began in April 2025 following a 2024 agreement signed during Russian President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tovima.com\/wsj\/behind-putin-visit-unease-in-beijing-over-his-potential-next-stop-north-korea\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vladimir Putin\u2019s visit to Pyongyang<\/a>, part of a broader strategic partnership treaty between the two nations. The two sides marked the joining of the bridge\u2019s structure in a ceremony earlier this year, before finishing paving and other infrastructure ahead of the opening.<\/p>\n<p>NEWSLETTER TABLE TALK<\/p>\n<p>Never miss a story.<br \/>Subscribe now.The most important news &amp; topics every week in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Officials in both countries have cast the project chiefly as an economic one, meant to lower transport costs and expand trade, tourism, and cross-border travel. Russian officials have called it a \u201cmilestone\u201d in bilateral relations, while state media in North Korea described it as key infrastructure for economic cooperation.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The bridge has cost more than 100 million dollars to build, with the accompanying border checkpoint expected to cost significantly more. Trade between the two countries has remained modest, but has grown alongside a broader alliance that has included North Korean arms shipments and troop deployments in support of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. Analysts see the new crossing as part of that wider strategic relationship, offering a more direct route for the movement of goods and people between the two sanctioned states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u039cake us preferred on Google Russia and North Korea have opened their first direct road link, a bridge&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[35226,4638,31,34,137],"class_list":["post-146303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-border-crossing","tag-infrastructure","tag-korea","tag-north-korea","tag-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}