North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge on Monday, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported, a structure which spans the Tumen river and which both sides cast as an important milestone in their strategic partnership.

The bridge is located near the existing “Friendship Bridge,” a rail bridge which was commissioned in 1959 after the Korean War.

There are already direct air and rail links between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said the bridge should spur development between the two countries in various spheres – including tourism – and create new jobs.

“I am convinced that the expansion of cross-border transport infrastructure will provide a powerful impetus for the further development of trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation,” TASS cited Mishustin as saying at the bridge’s opening ceremony via video link.

Construction of the new bridge, which had been under discussion for years, began in April last year after its construction was agreed during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to North Korea in 2024.

The two countries’ ties have grown stronger since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 with Pyongyang sending thousands of troops to Russia’s Kursk region to help repel a 2024 Ukrainian incursion there.