Russia and North Korea this week showcased the unprecedented level of their friendship with a new road bridge between the allies, illustrating how symbolism and geopolitical strategy intersect in Northeast Asia.

At the bridge’s opening ceremony Monday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin emphasized that naming the bridge after Soviet officer Yakov Novichenko, who threw himself on a grenade thrown at DPRK founding leader Kim Il Sung in 1946, was a deliberate and deeply symbolic choice.