{"id":56633,"date":"2026-06-18T04:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T04:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/56633\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T04:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T04:49:11","slug":"north-korea-russia-still-working-on-new-car-bridge-ahead-of-scheduled-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/56633\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea, Russia still working on new car bridge ahead of scheduled opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Satellite imagery shows bridge is paved but that work on customs infrastructure still incomplete \n<\/p>\n

North Korea and Russia are adding finishing touches to their new bridge across the Tumen River but have yet to complete supporting infrastructure, satellite imagery shows, ahead of its planned opening on Friday.<\/p>\n

The DPRK side has actively pushed forward<\/a> the construction of its customs facility over the past few months, with the main building now featuring a finished roof, paved areas and a suspected inspection facility, NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery shows.<\/p>\n

Russia, which is building a much larger customs and vehicle processing facility, has added a cargo unit, while making progress on the main building and a site for in-depth inspections.<\/p>\n

Both sides have laid asphalt atop the bridge\u2019s metal decking, which spans around 1,030 meters, including 315 meters over the Tumen River.<\/p>\n

North Korea has connected an adjacent countryside road to the customs facility and the bridge with a paved road.<\/p>\n

Russia has yet to build a reliable paved link from the bridge to the regional highway, with only limited progress visible in satellite imagery so far. The section of highway leading from Vladivostok to the settlement of Khasan near the construction site is known to be narrow and only partially paved.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tHigh-resolution imagery of the bridge and adjacent border checkpoints on both sides of the Tumen River as of June 1, 2026 | Image: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tThe North Korean customs or vehicle processing facility and border checkpoint appearing nearly finished as of June 1, 2026 | Image: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tThe Russian border crossing facility exhibiting more modest work progress, with multiple buildings still under construction as of June 1, 2026 | Image: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tThe new car bridge paved with asphalt as of June 1, 2026 | Image: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tThis image shows progress laying asphalt over the new bridge\u2019s decking structure between April and May 2026. | Image: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro<\/p>\n

The most recent additions to the joint project came shortly after the two countries held an official linking ceremony<\/a> for the bridge on April 21, more than a month after the new road crossing was actually connected.<\/p>\n

The two sides officially kicked off construction on April 30, 2025, although some preparation dated back to Nov. 2024.<\/p>\n

Russia previously said the two sides aimed to complete<\/a> the project by June 19, the second anniversary of the summit<\/a> between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin where the two agreed<\/a> to construct the motorway link.<\/p>\n

The project will be the first vehicle bridge between the two countries, which have only been linked by a railway bridge upstream on the Tumen River since late 1950s.<\/p>\n

It will feature two lanes and pedestrian walkways, according to official footage. The Khasan border crossing facility is expected to have 10 lanes and a capacity to process up to 300 vehicles daily.<\/p>\n

It is unclear when the bridge will see actual traffic after its scheduled opening, as Russia still has to finish its checkpoint. A large portion of the buildings currently under construction was supposed to be completed last year, NK Pro previously found<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Notably, the 4.7-km crossing won\u2019t be fully equipped with all its planned facilities for another year, with contractor documents showing that additional dog kennels, garages and inspection units are expected to be completed by 2027.<\/p>\n

NK News previously reported<\/a> that Russia plans to spend more than $110 million on the bridge and crossing, while the checkpoint itself could exceed $173 million, more than four times the initial $40 million budget.<\/p>\n

The site is also expected to add flood control infrastructure and an incinerator near the crossing.<\/p>\n

While several subcontractors are taking part in the project, Russian authorities put a small and obscure company to lead the infrastructure effort, with NK News identifying<\/a> Chechen construction elites as real beneficiaries of the initiative.<\/p>\n

OBSTACLE FOR CHINA?<\/p>\n

The Tumen River region has attracted renewed attention following Putin\u2019s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May, when the two agreed<\/a> to engage in trilateral talks with North Korea about providing Beijing with access to the Sea of Japan (East Sea).<\/p>\n

China is entitled to navigation rights on the Tumen River under the 1991 Sino-Soviet Border Agreement <\/a>but has not been able to exercise them. Its territory sits some 10 km upstream from the ocean, with access currently blocked by the Russia-DPRK rail and motorway bridges.<\/p>\n

The low vertical clearance of the bridges complicates the passage of vessels underneath, while the Tumen River\u2019s shallow waters would also require dredging before commercial navigation could begin.<\/p>\n

The issue of the Tumen River region likely also came up during Xi\u2019s talks with Kim in Pyongyang earlier this month, with Beijing teasing<\/a> cooperative steps.<\/p>\n

While the initiative appears ambitious, trilateral cooperation may initially focus on boosting tourism<\/a> exchanges in the Tumen River estuary, including through low-sitting leisure craft that could allow travelers to cross between the three countries in one trip.<\/p>\n

Edited by David Choi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Satellite imagery shows bridge is paved but that work on customs infrastructure still incomplete North Korea and Russia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[119,4122,31,34,31953],"class_list":["post-56633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-economy","tag-foreign-relations","tag-korea","tag-north-korea","tag-trade-data"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56633","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=56633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}