A new cross-border road bridge between North Korea and China appears to be closer to opening, suggesting a potential boost to trade within the northeast region sometime in the near future, according to an NK Pro analysis of recent satellite imagery.

Work has accelerated on the construction of the connecting road in the Chinese town of Tumen in recent weeks, while a building immediately in front of the bridge entrance was finally demolished in late June.

The new four-lane bridge, completed last year by a Chinese state-owned construction company, will replace a smaller, single-lane bridge to the North Korean town of Namyang.

Daily medium-resolution Planet Labs satellite imagery shows that the new road work on the Chinese side ramped up in early May this year, with construction workers demolishing a long building along the path of the planned roadwork. 

The large building immediately adjacent to the new bridge’s gate and Chinese customs was then demolished sometime between June 19 and July 1.

Two main avenues running parallel towards the bridge were also blocked off by late May, according to high-resolution Google Earth imagery. Planet imagery shows roadwork continued through late July.

On the North Korean side, a new customs building at the foot of the bridge was built between late 2018 and 2019, but it’s still unclear whether or not it was operational as of late July.

The new work on the Chinese side appears to signal that the two sides are accelerating plans to finally open the bridge, nearly three years after construction began and five years since the project was announced. It has yet to open, despite construction wrapping up last October.

Some Chinese businesses — particularly from the nearby city of Yanji in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture — have long sought improvements to the corridor’s infrastructure. For instance, some see it as vital to fulfilling plans to utilize North Korea’s Chongjin port as an ice-free port in winter to transship Chinese goods across the world.

The old, single-lane bridge has historically serviced shipments of goods in both directions, as well as North Korean workers crossing to work in China. However, activity is likely to have slowed since the outbreak of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus in late January. 

A timelapse of progress at the Tumen-Namyang bridge since May | Images: Planet Labs

It was also a popular tourist spot on the Chinese side, even throughout the new bridge construction. People were able to pay a small fee to walk to the center line and go up to the top of a large gate overlooking Namyang. Tourists were also known to cross on foot for day trips to Namyang.

Such tourist activities, however, came to a halt earlier this year due to COVID-19.

The new bridge’s eventual opening will complement a much larger project on the opposite end of the Sino-DPRK border: A long-stalled bridge project may also finally finish in the coming months after a major restart to construction on a connecting highway in Sinuiju last fall.

Edited by Kelly Kasulis