China and North Korea Open a Border Bridge That Sat Unused for Over a Decade

China and North Korea on Thursday opened a four-lane road bridge across the Yalu River that Beijing finished building more than a decade ago but that had never carried traffic, a symbolic step in a relationship both governments have worked to warm over the past year.

The opening ceremony for the New Yalu River Bridge, which links the Chinese city of Dandong with Sinuiju in North Korea, began at 10 a.m. local time, NK News reported, citing China’s state news agency Xinhua. Trucks decorated with Chinese flags lined up on the span ahead of the first crossings, footage showed vehicles moving in both directions, and crowds gathered on the Chinese side to watch. Chinese Premier Li Qiang and North Korea’s cabinet chief, Pak Thae Song, delivered video addresses.

The cable-stayed bridge was completed in 2014 but sat idle for years amid strained relations between the two countries and pandemic-era disruption. Even now, approach roads and a customs compound on the North Korean end remain unfinished, and North Korea’s state media had not yet reported on the event.

The bridge is meant to help move heavy equipment, raw materials and energy products for North Korea’s development projects and to revive trade and commerce after years of disruption. China is by far North Korea’s largest trading partner. Chinese exports to North Korea reached a six-year high of $2.3 billion last year, up 25 percent from the year before, but that is still well below levels before the United Nations Security Council tightened sanctions in 2017.

Those sanctions, imposed over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, ban the flow of many goods and workers to and from the country. China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, voted for sanctions resolutions until 2017 but have since questioned whether they are legitimate or effective. The United States and South Korea accuse Russia of supplying sensitive military help to North Korea in return for support in its war in Ukraine.

The opening follows two summit meetings between the countries’ leaders in the past year. Supporters of closer ties argue that commerce can bring stability and improve life for ordinary North Koreans. Critics worry that easier trade will make sanctions harder to enforce.

Analysts cautioned against expecting too much. “The bridge is unlikely to lead immediately to a full-scale return to pre-sanctions trade,” said Lim Eul-chul of Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in South Korea. Analysts also note that North Korea, despite the potential economic benefits, remains wary of becoming more dependent on its powerful neighbor.