North Korea nears completion of bridge with China, analytics firm says — SkimNews
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- North Korea is completing its section of the New Yalu River bridge with China, suggesting an imminent opening after more than 12 years of delays, according to South Korean analytics firm SI Analytics.
- SI Analytics said structural work on a customs and immigration facility on the North Korean side of the 3-km bridge will be nearly complete by early September, citing satellite images showing road paving, perimeter landscaping, and removal of auxiliary support buildings.
- North Korea finished the project in just four months using its "speed battle" tactical campaign — work that had been stalled for 12 years, with a large border gateway emblazoned "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" now standing at the entry.
- China completed its side of the dual-carriageway bridge in 2014 to link free trade zones in Dandong with North Korea's Sinuiju, but Pyongyang left its side unfinished amid fallout from its nuclear tests.
- Work resumed after Xi Jinping visited North Korea in June, and the two countries have since restarted passenger train services and direct flights between their capitals.
- On Monday, Russia opened its first road bridge with North Korea — and together with the Yalu bridge, the two give Pyongyang "major new transport networks connecting to the continent on both its eastern and western flanks," per SI Analytics.
Why it matters: North Korea's four-month sprint to finish the 12-year-stalled bridge gives Pyongyang overland trade access to China's Dandong free trade zone for the first time, anchoring Beijing's push to re-engage Pyongyang after Kim Jong Un's wartime alignment with Moscow through troops and weapons for Russia's Ukraine war.
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