Pandemic Freezes Russia-North Korea Road Bridge Project - Official

The project of a road bridge linking Russia's Primorsky Territory and North Korea over the Tumen River has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Primorsky Territory Governor Oleg Kozhemyako said on Friday, adding that the work may resume once the situation stabilizes

VLADIVOSTOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2021) The project of a road bridge linking Russia's Primorsky Territory and North Korea over the Tumen River has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Primorsky Territory Governor Oleg Kozhemyako said on Friday, adding that the work may resume once the situation stabilizes.

"In 2019 we began to thoroughly consider this [project], including with the Korean side. But so far, it is just a vision. A bilateral decision on the construction is needed. But there is almost no contact with Korea, work has been suspended. I think it will resume after everything stabilizes," Kozhemyako told reporters, adding that the bridge would also serve as a transit territory.

Primorsky Territory is Russia's only region that borders North Korea along the Tumen River. The only existing way to cross the border is by a railway bridge that connects the Rason Special Economic Zone with the Khasansky District of Primorye.

In 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Vladivostok, the administrative center of Primorsky Territory and the largest city in the Russian Far East. As part of the visit, the Korean and Russian delegations discussed the construction of a bridge over the Tumen River as yet another area of cooperation.