Russia and North Korea will soon start building a bridge across the Tumen River between the two countries, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora said on Thursday, the 27th of March, citing the Russian news agency RIA, reports Reuters.
The construction of the bridge was agreed during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea in 2024, when the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement.
The bridge will be built near an existing railway bridge that was opened in 1959 after the Korean War. According to Russian media, a wooden bridge was used to cross the border in the early 20th century, but it was destroyed.
“Construction of the bridge has not started yet,” the Russian ambassador to North Korea told RIA. “The parties are making preparations, finalising the design documentation, forming construction teams and columns of machinery.”
THE BRIDGE, WHICH HAS BEEN TALKED ABOUT FOR YEARS, WILL BE 850 METRES LONG AND WILL CONNECT TO THE RUSSIAN HIGHWAY SYSTEM.
South Korean satellite image analysis company SI Analytics said in a 5th of March report that work on the bridge’s foundations and road connections appears to have started.
“With the rapid construction of this bridge, which is being built alongside an existing rail link – the only connection between North Korea and Russia – a sharp increase in economic, social and military exchanges is expected,” the report said.
“This has the potential to gradually reduce the effectiveness of international sanctions against North Korea and Russia.”
Meanwhile, according to AP News, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee reported on Thursday that North Korea sent about 3 000 additional troops to Russia in January and February to compensate for losses incurred in fighting with Ukrainian forces.
It also said that North Korea is also sending more missiles, artillery equipment and ammunition to help Russia, including a “significant number” of short-range ballistic missiles, a 170mm self-propelled howitzers and several hundred 240mm multiple rocket launchers.
North Korea has sent some 11 000 troops to help Ukraine, its first involvement in a large-scale conflict since the 1950-1953 Korean War, and the Joint Chiefs have estimated that some 4 000 of them have been killed or wounded.