A new four-lane road bridge linking China and North Korea finally opened on Thursday, 12 years late, enabling the Asian giant and its isolated nuclear-armed neighbor to step up cross-border trade substantially.
China is its neighbor's largest trading partner and a vital diplomatic and political backer, although relations have not always been smooth with the ruling Kim dynasty.
Hundreds of people gathered on Thursday in the northern Chinese border town of Dandong, taking selfies in front of the 3,026-meter (9,927-feet) New Yalu River vehicle bridge before it opened.
Trucks bearing the nations' flags began moving in both directions late morning, AFP reporters at the scene said, some of the North Korean vehicles decorated with flowers.
"It's great," one woman who came to watch told AFP in the town dotted with Chinese as well as Korean shops and restaurants, where residents were relieved the bridge had finally open.
"It's already been over 10 years. It's certainly going to be good for business," she said, without wishing to be named, accompanied by her friend and her dog.
"I hope the standard of living in North Korea can rise to the level we have here," Dandong local Yu Shuyan, who before the pandemic had visited North Korea, told AFP.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said that the bridge symbolized Beijing's friendship with Pyongyang and that relations were "entering a new stage and opening a new chapter".
"Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, the successful opening of the bridge will not only strongly boost economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, but will also further facilitate people-to-people exchanges and tighten the bonds of affection between the two peoples," Li said by video link at the opening ceremony, Xinhua reported.
The structure was completed in 2014 but its opening was delayed due to a lack of connecting roads and customs facilities on the North Korean side, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
North Korea also sealed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, and train journeys between the East Asian neighbors only restarted in March after a six-year halt.
The new bridge is not the only border crossing between the two countries. But the new structure will supersede the "extremely narrow" rail-and-road Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge downstream on the Yalu River, said Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University.
"Previously, transporting heavy cargo such as industrial machinery, raw materials, construction materials and energy-related supplies required extreme caution because of safety concerns surrounding the ageing bridge," Lim told AFP.
"The new crossing will make such shipments much easier and more efficient," he said, calling it a "groundbreaking development" that will triple or quadruple cargo traffic.
The opening came a day after North Korea test-fired two types of cruise missile from a submarine, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The two Koreas have engaged in a tit-for-tat series of missile tests this month, with both sides test-firing hypersonic weapons.
Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war as the Korean conflict ended in 1953 with a truce rather than a peace treaty.
South Korea's unification ministry told AFP that Seoul is "closely monitoring" the situation regarding the new bridge.
North Korea has not yet resumed issuing tourism visas to Chinese citizens, who once made up the bulk of its overseas visitors.
The opening of the new bridge comes just more than a month after North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge, with Pyongyang lauding it as a sign of closer ties.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Pyongyang has become a key Kremlin ally, sending troops to support Moscow's war effort in return for economic benefits and military technology.
