The first road bridge linking Russia and North Korea has opened, allowing the two countries to more easily move cargo and passengers between their border across the Tumen river.
Pyongyang state media said the bridge will be used for “personnel exchanges, tourism and trade”.
But Ukrainian OSINT group Truth Hounds said the bridge is intended “primarily to establish a covert military logistics corridor” to support Russia in the Ukraine war.
It comes as relations between both countries have grown since the start of the Ukraine war, with Russia’s Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un previously pledging that both countries would help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin described the bridge as a “new symbol of friendship”, while North Korea’s Prime Minister Pak Thae Song said it was a “historical event”.
Up to 300 vehicles and 2,323 people can cross the bridge daily, Russian state news TASS reports.
Satellite imagery reported by the BBC in May this year showed the kilometre-long bridge alongside several new access roads, a border checkpoint, support infrastructure and parking facilities.
There are existing air links, as well as the rail link between the two countries, but until now the only road link was a makeshift solution where, by special arrangement, wooden planks were placed on the rail bridge to allow cars to travel over it, according to Reuters.
The Russian government said the bridge will initially be used to transport cargo, Reuters reported, before opening to passenger traffic later this year.
The bridge would provide, a “powerful impetus for the further development of trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation,” said Mishustin.
Appearing at the opening ceremony via video link, he described ties between Moscow and Pyongyang as being “at an unprecedented high level.”
The most immediate impact may be increased export of weapons to Russia.
Researchers at South Korea’s spy agency estimates that North Korea has already transferred $7 to 14 billion dollars’ worth of rockets, missiles, artillery shells using ships. An estimated 11,000 North Korean troops are actively fighting Ukrainians in Russia.
