This photo taken on October15, 2026 shows trucks running on the new China-DPRK Yalu River bridge. The new China-DPRK Yalu River bridge officially opened to traffic on the day, with both sides jointly holding an opening ceremony on this cross-border artery. Photo: Xinhua

The new China-DPRK Yalu River bridge officially opened to traffic on Thursday, with both sides jointly holding an opening ceremony on this cross-border artery. Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Pak Thae-song, premier of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Cabinet, both delivered a video speech at the opening ceremony of the bridge, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

The cable-stayed bridge over the Yalu River serves as a cross-border transport link between the city of Dandong in Northeast China's Liaoning Province and the city of Sinuiju in North Pyongan Province in the DPRK.

In his video address at the opening ceremony, Chinese Premier Li Qiang called on China and the DPRK to take the opening of the new China-DPRK Yalu River bridge as an opportunity to continuously optimize port clearance, enhance connectivity, tap the potential for cooperation in border areas, and improve the well-being of the two peoples.

"The bridge is bound to become a new landmark symbolizing the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK," Li said, per Xinhua. 

Noting that the bridge is an important cross-border infrastructure project that General Secretary Xi Jinping and General Secretary Kim Jong-un have jointly cared about and promoted, Li said that with the joint efforts of both sides, the opening of the bridge will not only effectively promote economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, but also further enhance personnel exchanges and strengthen the emotional bond between the two peoples.

According to on-site video footage released by China News Service, during the opening ceremony on Thursday, the bridge was lined with the national flags of China and the DPRK. Lines of trucks from the two countries drove towards each other and sounded their horns as a salute to jointly mark the opening of the bridge.

The new double-pylon and double-cable-plane bridge features a 28.5-meter-wide deck designed with four lanes for two-way traffic, while its water navigation clearance is designed for vessels of up to the 3,000-tonne class.

Dandong boasts China's largest border trade port with the DPRK. Before the new road bridge, the Yalu River Bridge, also known as the China-DPRK Friendship Bridge, served as a combined road-rail bridge. The old one, however, could only accommodate trucks weighing no more than 20 tonnes for one-way road traffic.

China and the DPRK in 2010 agreed to build a new road bridge downstream from the old one.

The new bridge will coordinate with the China-DPRK Friendship Bridge to ease heavy truck access, raise port freight capacity and create a new cross-border logistics route along northeast China's border.

New chapter

In his speech on Thursday, Premier Li Qiang said China and the DPRK are friendly socialist neighbors linked by mountains and rivers. He added that at present, under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and countries, China-DPRK relations are entering a new stage and opening a new chapter, according to the Xinhua release. 

Xi has pointed out that no matter how the international landscape evolves, the firm position of China's Party and government to attach great importance to the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK will remain unchanged; the firm support for Kim in leading the DPRK's socialist cause will remain unchanged; and the determination to safeguard the common interests of both sides and maintain a favorable strategic environment will remain unchanged, said Li, per Xinhua.

China is willing to work with the DPRK to continue making efforts to implement the important consensus reached by the two top leaders, strengthen strategic communication, consolidate political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation, and enhance multilateral coordination, so as to continuously deepen the development of China-DPRK relations and bring more benefits to the two peoples, Li said.

In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, China-DPRK traditional friendly and cooperative relations have maintained sound and steady growth.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the signing of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between China and the DPRK. In July, the two leaders have exchanged congratulations over the anniversary. 

The Chinese leader paid a state visit to the DPRK in June this year, and Kim made a visit to China in 2025.

In addition, China-DPRK economic and trade cooperation has maintained a sound momentum of development in recent years. According to Xinhua, bilateral trade volume stood at $2.735 billion in 2025.

Figures released by China's General Administration of Customs in September show that the total China-DPRK trade volume exceeded $1.973 billion in the January-August period this year.

On March 12, the international passenger trains connecting China and the DPRK began operating in both directions. On March 30, an Air China passenger plane from Beijing arrived in Pyongyang, marking the formal resumption of the Chinese carrier's passenger flight operations between the capitals of China and the DPRK. By then, road, railway and air links between China and the DPRK had been fully restored in the first half of 2026, Xinhua reported.