North Korea's Kim crosses new border bridge for China visit

Kim Jong-un arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong on Saturday, crossing the New Yalu River Bridge to inaugurate a crossing that had been finished on the Chinese side 12 years earlier. South Korea's unification ministry and China's Xinhua news agency both reported the crossing. The bridge spans 3km and opened in mid-October after construction delays on the North Korean side.

In China, Kim met Wang Huning, a member of the standing committee of the Chinese Communist party, and the two toured a car factory. Xinhua quoted Kim as saying North Korea "stands ready to work with China to carry forward their historical friendship and expand practical cooperation, thereby delivering tangible benefits to the peoples of both countries." Wang accompanied Kim back to the bridge to see him off.

The visit sits two days before the 25 October anniversary of the date Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River into North Korea in 1950, an advance that preceded China's first major victory in the Korean war. Kyodo news agency reported Saturday that traffic controls were in place around the bridge and near a museum about China's role in the war, and that hotel bookings nearby had been restricted. Diplomatic sources told Kyodo the measures related to a senior North Korean official's visit.

The bridge work is part of a wider road-link picture. In early September, North Korea and Russia opened the first road bridge across their own short border, giving Pyongyang road connections to both of its main backers. Kim's trip to China is his sixth and his first since September 2025, when he attended a Beijing military parade with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Xi visited Pyongyang in June, his first trip there in seven years.

Relations between North Korea and South Korea have moved the other way. Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, has issued about 10 statements criticizing Seoul since late September, a pace South Korea's unification ministry called unusual. She has also announced plans to resume loudspeaker broadcasts at the border within days.

Xi hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen on 18 and 19 November, and that has raised talk of a possible Kim meeting with Donald Trump. Reuters reported Friday that US and South Korean officials see little chance of Kim meeting the US president this year.