China and North Korea have opened a road bridge that was delayed for more than a decade, Chinese state media reported, as trade between the two neighbours recovers. The New Yalu River Bridge stretches 3km (1.9 miles) from the Chinese border city of Dandong to Sinuiju in North Korea, and is expected to become the main overland route for trade between them.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang, speaking in a video address on Thursday, called the crossing a “new landmark symbolising the traditional friendship between China and North Korea”. He said the two countries were “opening a new chapter” in their bilateral ties.
Years of delay and the reasons behind them
The bridge was originally slated to open in 2014, but its launch was postponed indefinitely after North Korea halted work on its roads and customs facilities. Relations with Beijing had turned cold at the time.
The new crossing is an alternative to the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, a decades-old structure built between 1937 and 1943 while Imperial Japan occupied the region.
Trade growth and the limits set by sanctions
China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and an essential economic lifeline for Pyongyang, which faces tough global penalties over its nuclear weapons programme. Bilateral trade reached $2.7bn last year, returning to pre-pandemic levels and driven mostly by Chinese exports to North Korea.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that the bridge was an “important facility for connectivity” between the countries. She added that the route would “further facilitate trade and people-to-people exchanges”.
Kang Jun-young, a professor of Chinese studies at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said a sharp and sudden rise in cross-border trade was “unlikely” while UN sanctions remain in force. He said Pyongyang was wary of a flood of Chinese imports that could greatly extend Beijing’s influence over its domestic market, and that trade was more likely to grow gradually.
Beijing’s shifting stance and the Russia factor
Beijing and Pyongyang are longstanding allies bound by a mutual defence treaty, the only such pact China has with any country. The relationship is often described as “as close as lips and teeth”, a phrase first used by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
Ties were cool for much of the 2010s, as Beijing’s patience with Pyongyang’s nuclear programme wore thin. Kim Jong Un conducted a nuclear test in 2017 and has since increased launches of banned ballistic missiles, moves that heightened US concern and strengthened Washington’s military alliances with South Korea and Japan.
Edward Howell, a lecturer at the University of Oxford, said that while Beijing was openly calling for Pyongyang’s denuclearisation only a decade ago, “China is now saying little, if anything, to this effect”. Observers say one reason for the change is North Korea’s growing closeness to Russia over the Ukraine war.
At least 2,300 North Korean soldiers are believed to have died fighting for Russia in Ukraine. In return, Russia supplies Pyongyang with oil in breach of UN sanctions, and was estimated to have sent more than a billion barrels in 2024 as payment for weapons and troops. Last month, North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge, which Russian state media said would handle up to 300 vehicles and more than 2,000 people a day.
Renewed flights, trains and high-level visits
Beijing is believed to be seeking to reassert its influence over Pyongyang by rebuilding ties. Air China resumed direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang in March, ending a six-year gap caused by the pandemic, and the two countries reopened passenger train services the same month.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first state visit this year took him to Pyongyang in June, where he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the bridge’s opening showed that relations were improving and that the June visit was “more than symbolic”.
Easley also said the long delay, linked to North Korea’s pandemic self-isolation and domestic socioeconomic crackdowns, showed that Pyongyang could be a “difficult partner” for Beijing.
