Cameras have captured a vehicle crossing the New Yalu River Bridge, which links North Korea and China, in a fresh sign that preparations for its long-delayed opening are picking up pace following last month’s China-North Korea summit.
A source told Daily NK on Friday that around 2 p.m. on June 27, a 30-seat bus was spotted at the Chinese side of the New Yalu River Bridge heading toward Sinuiju, North Pyongan province. The bus belongs to a North Korean trading company and has previously carried North Korean people between Sinuiju and Dandong via the older Yalu River Bridge, also known as the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, the crossing that has long served as the main link between the two countries.
Daily NK’s reporting found no regular passengers aboard the bus that day, only a driver and one accompanying staff member. The trip is believed to have been a trial run meant to check routes and facility operations ahead of the New Yalu River Bridge’s formal opening, rather than an actual transport of passengers or cargo.
The New Yalu River Bridge was built downstream from the older crossing to expand cargo capacity beyond what that bridge alone can handle. Although Chinese funding covered construction of the bridge, which connects Dandong in China’s Liaoning province with Sinuiju, its opening has been delayed for years by a combination of international sanctions on North Korea, the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting political dynamics between Pyongyang and Beijing.
Construction on the Chinese side is now complete, but interior work on North Korea’s customs facility and nearby roads has yet to be finished, the source said. Even so, some North Korean workers involved in the construction say the bridge could open as early as later this month or in August.
Bridge carries political weight beyond construction timeline
Since last month, Chinese personnel have been traveling to the North Korean side of the construction site each morning between 7 and 8 a.m., with boxed lunches and bottled water shipped north for them daily, according to the source. That level of coordination suggests final inspections and operational preparations are now underway, beyond simple construction support.
The trial run is particularly notable because it came after the recent China-North Korea summit, at which Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The New Yalu River Bridge is widely viewed as more than transport infrastructure. It stands as a symbol of economic cooperation and restored ties between the two countries, meaning its opening could send a political message about deepening cooperation following the summit.
Still, observers caution that construction progress alone will not determine the actual opening date. Given the bridge’s political symbolism, final decisions are expected to require sign-off from both countries’ leaderships and further diplomatic coordination.
“Even North Korean diplomats say the opening date is a decision made at the top, so it’s hard to predict,” the source said. Even once construction wraps up, the timing of a formal opening ceremony, along with who attends, will likely hinge on political calculations in both Pyongyang and Beijing.
Still, momentum around the bridge’s opening has clearly accelerated since Xi’s visit and summit with Kim last month, the source said.
“Both sides could open the bridge anytime if they make the political decision,” the source said, adding that discussions between the two countries over timing continue given how much symbolic weight the bridge carries.
If the New Yalu River Bridge does open, it is expected to redistribute the flow of people and goods that has long been concentrated on the older Yalu River Bridge, with significant effects on the border economies of Dandong and Sinuiju.
Reporting from inside North Korea
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