North Korea and China on Thursday opened the New Yalu River Bridge, the largest border crossing between the two countries, a sign of growing trade despite international sanctions aimed at constraining North Korea’s economy and nuclear weapons program.
In the weeks leading up to the opening ceremony, travelers returning from the river border reported that trucks and cars were already crossing the four-lane, nearly two-mile long bridge from China into North Korea. The bridge connects the Chinese city of Dandong to Sinuiju, a North Korean city on the Yalu River that forms much of the border between the two countries.
Its opening, which was reported by the Chinese state media, comes just a month after North Korea and Russia inaugurated their first — and much smaller — road bridge across the Tumen River border. The consecutive bridge openings underscore Pyongyang’s deepening ties with its two main allies.
Russia built its road bridge to supplement its lone rail link with North Korea after Pyongyang sent weapons and troops to aid Moscow’s war against Ukraine. As North Korea’s relationship with Russia has strengthened, China has moved to expand its own trade with Pyongyang in an effort to maintain its economic influence over its neighbor.
Moscow and Beijing had already weakened the international sanctions against North Korea when they worked together in 2024 to dissolve the United Nations panel responsible for monitoring the enforcement of sanctions. Both countries have also urged Washington to ease restrictions on Pyongyang, arguing that the sanctions have failed to halt the country’s nuclear weapons development.
Analysts warn that these new bridges could serve as a trade route for North Korea, whose economy has been strained by U.N. sanctions that prohibit key exports, including coal and labor, and severely restrict fuel imports.
Until now, Sinuiju and Dandong were linked primarily by the 83-year-old Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, which features just a single rail line and one road lane. The aging structure could not hold trucks weighing over 20 tons and had a strict three-mile-per-hour speed limit. In 2009, China proposed building the wider New Yalu River Bridge as part of broader efforts to bring North Korea further into its economic sphere.
Construction was completed in 2014, with China footing the bill estimated at $329 million. But the opening was delayed for 12 years, as North Korea took time building connecting roads, customs stations and supporting facilities.
But Pyongyang was also concerned about becoming even more dependent on China. Decades of international sanctions have left North Korea reliant on China for nearly all of its external trade. After the U.N. Security Council blacklisted North Korea’s top exports, the country’s trade deficit with China ballooned.
“From North Korea’s perspective, the opening of the New Yalu River Bridge could allow Chinese goods to enter more quickly and in larger volumes, with no guarantee that North Korea could significantly increase its own exports to China,” said Kim Gyu-beom, an analyst at the Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy. “There is little incentive for North Korea to welcome a scenario in which its trade deficit and dependence on China continue to deepen.”
Analysts suggested that before agreeing to open the bridge, North Korea may have sought concessions that would facilitate exports to China and create opportunities for more North Korean workers to be employed there.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has faced the challenge of importing the Chinese raw materials and equipment needed to rebuild his economy while also raising hard currency. North Korea has largely accomplished the latter through illicit means such as smuggling, sending workers overseas, cyber operations and cryptocurrency theft.
Mr. Kim pushed his country to produce more consumer goods domestically while cracking down on the smuggling of such products from China, using the Covid-19 pandemic as justification. He has also sought to reduce the chronic trade imbalance by attracting Chinese tourists to newly built coastal and mountain resorts across North Korea.
China accelerated its re-engagement with North Korea after Pyongyang grew closer to Moscow during the Ukraine war. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, invited both Mr. Kim and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to a military parade in Beijing last year. Rail service between Beijing and Pyongyang, suspended during the pandemic, resumed in March, and Mr. Xi visited Pyongyang in June.
Official trade between North Korea and China reached $1.5 billion in the first half of this year, according to Chinese data, hitting its highest level since comprehensive U.N. sanctions were fully implemented in 2017.
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