New Yalu River Bridge opens to traffic

As agreed by China and the DPRK, the New Yalu River Bridge connecting the two countries officially opened to traffic on October 15, and a joint ceremony was held in Dandong, a city bordering the DPRK to mark the inauguration. 

According to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on October 14, China and the DPRK are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers. The New Yalu River Bridge will serve as an important infrastructure for bilateral connectivity and further facilitate the economic, trade and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and contribute to the welfare of the two peoples.

This four-lane border crossing will work alongside the old Sino-DPRK Friendship Bridge, built over 80 years ago. "The bottleneck issues in Sino-DPRK trade transportation have become very prominent. Therefore, Dandong can hardly meet the current cargo transportation needs relying solely on the single-track China-DPRK Friendship Bridge, which was built in 1943," said Lyu Chao, chief researcher of Center for DPRK and ROK Studies, Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.

Last year, bilateral trade reached more than 2.7 billion US dollars, according to official data. Yet most traffic was funneled across the old bridge — with a 20-ton weight limit and a single lane that allowed one-way traffic at a time. Construction began in 2010, and the main structure was completed in 2014.

During the inauguration ceremony, senior leaders of the two countries exchanged congratulatory remarks. The new bridge will serve as an important piece of infrastructure for bilateral connectivity.