The local government of China’s Jilin Province plans to renovate 10 bridges located near the North Korean border to open up local markets to customers from the DPRK, China News Service reported.

Because many of the bridges crossing the North Korean border have become dilapidated and even dangerous, a local official cited by China News Service said that it will serve the economic interests of residents living in the local vicinity for Jilin Province to renovate them.

“Those bridges are in need of repair, some of them even date back to the Japanese colonial period,” Matthew Reichel, Director of Pyongyang