Russia and North Korea began construction on a road bridge across the Tumen River on Wednesday as part of an effort to expand their strategic alliance, according to Russia’s prime minister.
One of Moscow’s key partners during the Ukraine offensive was Pyongyang, which acknowledged this week that it had dispatched thousands of troops to assist Moscow in driving Ukraine out of the Kursk region.
The bridge is being built near the existing “Friendship Bridge,” a rail bridge which was commissioned in 1959 after the Korean War.
At a ceremony dedicated to the start of the new bridge’s construction, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said it was a significant event in Russian-North Korean relations.
The 850-meter (2789-foot) new road bridge will connect to the Russian highway system and has been in the works for years. President Vladimir Putin committed to build it when he visited North Korea in 2024.
Mishustin stated that the bridge “will allow entrepreneurs to significantly increase transportation volumes and reduce transportation costs, ensure reliable and stable supplies of various products, which will contribute to the expansion of trade and economic cooperation,” according to TASS.
South Korean MPs stated on Wednesday that approximately 600 North Korean troops have been killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine out of a total deployment of 15,000, citing the country’s intelligence service.
