BEIJING: A long-delayed road bridge linking China and North Korea has opened, Chinese state media reported. The BBC said the New Yalu River Bridge is intended to become the main land route for trade between the neighbours.
The bridge spans about 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) from the Chinese border city of Dandong to Sinuiju in North Korea and is a four-lane road crossing. Xinhua reported that an opening ceremony was held on October 15.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said in a video address that the bridge was a "new landmark symbolising the traditional friendship" between China and North Korea and that the two countries were "opening a new chapter" in bilateral ties. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called it an important connectivity facility that would further facilitate trade and people-to-people exchanges.
According to the BBC, bilateral trade reached about $2.7 billion last year, recovering to pre-pandemic levels. The bridge's launch, initially slated for 2014, had been postponed after North Korea halted construction of its roads and customs facilities.
The opening comes amid improving China–DPRK ties after President Xi Jinping's visit to Pyongyang in June and the resumption of flights and passenger trains. The new span is an alternative to the decades-old Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge built between 1937 and 1943.