September 7, 2026, 10:12 am

Source: TASS

A new road bridge over the Tumen River linking Russia and North Korea has opened to traffic.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korean Cabinet Premier Pak Thae Song took part remotely in the ceremony marking the bridge’s opening.

It is the first road bridge between Russia and North Korea; previously, the two countries were connected overland only by rail, across the Friendship Bridge.

The new bridge is just over 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) long, and construction began in late April 2025.

The bridge is named for Red Army officer Yakov Tikhonovich Novichenko, who saved North Korean leader Kim Il Sung from an assassination attempt in March 1946. Novichenko threw himself over a grenade hurled at Kim during a rally in Pyongyang, shielding him with his own body. He was severely wounded but survived, and North Korean authorities later awarded him the country’s highest state title, Hero of Labor.

At the opening ceremony, a red Zaporozhets that once belonged to Novichenko led the column of vehicles on the Russian side.

Russia and North Korea signed the agreement to build the bridge over the Tumen River in June 2024, during a visit to North Korea by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two countries signed a treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership at the same time. That treaty later became the basis for sending North Korean soldiers to Russia to fight in the war against Ukraine.

(c)MEDUZA 2026