North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in China’s border city of Dandong on Oct. 24 after crossing the New Yalu River Bridge, a South Korean government source said. The crossing links Dandong with Sinuiju in North Korea and marked Kim’s first reported visit to China in a year. South Korea’s presidential office and Unification Ministry had not immediately confirmed the arrival, while Chinese and North Korean state media had not yet announced the visit.
It is a four-lane, roughly three-kilometer crossing over the Yalu River, also known as the Amnok River, and was built to connect Dandong in Liaoning province with Sinuiju in North Pyongan province.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang described the bridge as key cross-border infrastructure and said it would support trade and economic cooperation. North Korean Premier Pak Thae-song also addressed the ceremony. Chinese officials said the crossing would improve connectivity and exchanges between the two countries, while a South Korean Unification Ministry official called its opening the first tangible implementation of agreements reached during a June summit between Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The bridge’s opening therefore creates additional capacity for movement between the two countries, although Kim’s reported arrival does not by itself establish the purpose of his trip or indicate what meetings may follow.
Kim’s reported crossing comes after Xi visited Pyongyang in June for talks with him. During that meeting, the two leaders pledged to raise bilateral ties to a strategic level and discussed expanding cooperation in trade, agriculture, construction and technology. Kim had also strengthened relations with Russia in recent years, making his reported trip through the newly operational China route an early, visible use of infrastructure that Beijing and Pyongyang had pursued for years. No official itinerary or further details of the visit had been announced at the time of the report.