Kim Jong Un left Dandong on Saturday, Oct. 24, after a visit that put a new China-North Korea road link and calls for deeper trade cooperation in focus.
The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) put China’s share of North Korea’s foreign trade at 98% in 2024. That dependence provides economic context for the public remarks about expanding ties through the bridge. Xinhua reported calls for broader cooperation but no specific trade agreement or project timetable.
Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, accompanied Kim in Dandong and conveyed greetings from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Xinhua reported. Wang described the bridge’s opening as a chance to broaden trade cooperation and exchanges between people in the two countries. Kim said cooperation prospects were “very broad,” the agency reported.
The Yalu River crossing connects Dandong, in China’s Liaoning Province, with Sinuiju in North Korea’s North Pyongan Province. Xinhua’s report on the project dates the countries’ agreement to build it to 2010 and says traffic began Oct. 15, 2026. The bridge has four lanes across a 28.5-meter-wide deck, with clearance designed for vessels up to the 3,000-tonne class, Xinhua reported. Wang saw Kim off at the bridge as he departed.
Yonhap reported that a South Korean government source said Kim had arrived in Dandong via the new bridge earlier Saturday.
Kim paid tribute at a memorial to Chinese People’s Volunteers who fought in the Korean War, then viewed historical artifacts, Xinhua said. The agency placed the visit in the 76th anniversary year of the volunteers’ entry into North Korea. Kim later toured a Dandong car factory with Wang; they inspected its production workshop and received a briefing.
