China-North Korea border bridge may do little to spur trade, experts say
Sanctions and a North Korean leadership that prioritises security dim prospects for trade, analysts say.
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Sanctions and a North Korean leadership that prioritises security dim prospects for trade, analysts say.
South Korea’s long-standing alliance with America is being tested by feuds spanning from investment deals to intelligence leaks, compromising Seoul’s ability to respond to North Korea. In a rare admission, Seoul’s top envoy to the US on Monday acknowledged an “issue” with Washington’s sharing of covert data. “There are limitations in our communication with the White House,” Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers. “I find it somewhat frustrating.” That follows reports earlier this year that a South Korean...
North Korea’s apparent use of different launch methods to fire two types of cruise missiles from a tactical nuclear-capable submarine could complicate regional defence, while raising fresh questions about the operational readiness of its growing undersea arsenal, observers have said. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday it had “test-fired two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles” off its eastern coast. The tests “contributed to inspecting the...
China and North Korea formally opened the Yalu River Bridge on Thursday, connecting Dandong in China with Sinuiju in North Korea. Beijing says the bridge will promote economic and trade cooperation.
China and North Korea officially opened their most significant land border crossing on Thursday, aiming to rejuvenate trade and commerce after years of strained ties and pandemic-related disruptions. Trucks festooned with the national flags of the neighbours drove across the long-delayed 3-km (2-mile) New Yalu River Bridge, its towering pylons also decked in flags, linking the Chinese city of Dandong with North Korea. FRANCE 24's Jan Camenzind Broomby reports.
China and North Korea have officially opened the New Yalu River Bridge after a 12-year delay.
China’s premier has reaffirmed his country’s support for North Korea and its leader during the much-delayed opening of a new bridge between the neighbours. In a taped speech to the opening ceremony on the New Yalu River Bridge on Thursday, Premier Li Qiang said the link was a landmark in Chinese-North Korean friendship. Li said the bridge would promote economic and trade ties, expand personnel exchanges and tighten the bond between the two peoples, according to state news agency Xinhua. The...
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 neighbour to step up cross-border trade substantially. China is its neighbour's largest trading partner and a vital diplomatic and political backer, although relations have not always been smooth with the ruling Kim dynasty.
China and North Korea opened a new four-lane road bridge on Thursday, 15 October, ending a 12-year delay and creating a major new route for cross-border trade.
Pyongyang test-fired two types of cruise missile from a submarine, its state news agency said on Thursday, after weeks of friction with Seoul over a landmine explosion along their border. The missiles were fired into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, on Wednesday without “any adverse impact on the security of neighbouring countries”, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been further strained since the landmine blast on...
The tests showcase North Korea's war deterrent capabilities in the region, KCNA says.
North Korea has opened two major bridges connecting it to key trading partners in the last month, with the latest — a bridge link to China — inaugurated Thursday after a more than decade-long delay.
North Korea test-fired two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles on Wednesday, state media KCNA reported Thursday, saying the launches posed no threat to neighbouring countries. The tests follow heightened tensions with South Korea after a September 21 landmine explosion in the Demilitarised Zone injured three South Korean soldiers.
A bridge between China and North Korea that was completed 12 years ago will finally open on Thursday. The two countries will hold an opening ceremony to mark the official opening of the New Yalu River Bridge, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday morning. Last week, signs that the bridge would soon open were spotted, including vehicles crossing and traffic lights and bridge indicators being activated, according to South Korean newspaper The Chosun Daily. The bridge links the...
The long-delayed bridge will formally open on Thursday, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
North Korea now has a museum for its bombs. The National Defence Revolution Museum, which opened on Sunday, is the country’s first dedicated exclusively to military hardware, from rifles to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Observers say it is also intended to send a message to Washington and Seoul, serve as a permanent showroom for the North’s arms exports and visibly enshrine its nuclear programme as an irreversible part of state policy. Third-generation ruler Kim Jong-un cut the...
Rio Times · Asia Intelligence Brief October 12, 2026 — North Korea launches a suspected ballistic missile into the sea; Taiwan monitors Chinese live-fire drills along five coastal zones; South Korea orders action over workplace safety deception; China resumes Yellow Sea patrols with Seoul. The post Asia Intelligence Brief — Monday, October 12, 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.
Latest missile launch appears to be a show of force since South Korea's hypersonic missile test-fire, Seoul says.
North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile off its east coast, Seoul’s military said on Monday. “North Korea fires unidentified projectile into the East Sea,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a brief statement, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. The launch follows Pyongyang’s test-firing of a ballistic missile earlier this month that it said incorporated artificial intelligence technology. That missile, fired on October 3, “is capable of changing its flight...
The denuclearisation of North Korea has become an “increasingly improbable” goal and the United States and its allies should move beyond it to devote their diplomatic efforts to talks on arms limitations and crisis communication, the director of the US-based North Korean analysis website 38 North said. Recalling the 20 years since North Korea carried out its first nuclear test on October 9, 2006, Jenny Town said in a written interview that “a pivotal moment” in Pyongyang’s weapons development...
North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, denounced on Thursday South Korea’s plans to provide medical equipment aid to Pyongyang, calling it a “political provocation” and violation of its sovereignty. In a statement carried by state media KCNA, Kim criticised Seoul for publicising its efforts to obtain United Nations sanctions exemptions for a medical aid package, saying Seoul had “insulted” North Korea by referring to shortages of medicines and medical equipment...
North Korea’s laying of landmines along its heavily fortified border with the South has laid bare how misaligned the two nations have become over their de facto land boundary, after three South Korean soldiers were wounded in an explosion last month. Seoul blames Pyongyang for the blast near the military demarcation line (MDL) on September 21, in which one soldier lost a foot. On Tuesday, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement it was preparing a response to force an apology for the blast,...
South Korea said on Monday that a recent border blast that seriously wounded two of its soldiers was caused by mines planted by North Korea. North Korea, which has been fortifying its border with South Korea since April 2024, deployed up to 7,000 workers to install mines and fences this year, with some 50 incidents of crossing the border, according to a briefing on Monday by the South’s military. The two Koreas are still technically at war after their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice rather...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he believed Russia may have shared jet-drone technology with its long-standing ally North Korea. In recent weeks, Russia has sharply increased its use of jet-drones against Ukraine, which so far has no effective means of countering them other than using combat aircraft. Earlier in the war, North Korea supplied Russia with millions of artillery shells and it has since provided ballistic missiles that Moscow regularly uses to attack...
Seoul, Oct. 3 (Jiji Press)--North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan from around Wonsan, Kangwon Province, at around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the South Korean military. The Japanese Defense Ministry also announced that Pyongyang had conducted the launch, and said the missile is believed to have fallen into waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. The p...
North Korea launched a ballistic missile Saturday morning from the Wonsan area on its east coast into the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea's military. The launch comes amid renewed tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul, with the latter demanding an apology for a blast that wounded three South Korean soldiers inside the Demilitarized Zone last month.
A ballistic missile is fired from the North Korean port city of Wonsan, South Korea's military says.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday threatened unspecified measures against Ukraine unless Kyiv acknowledged what Seoul says was a confidentiality agreement covering the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers and apologised. “If the refusal to acknowledge the facts and issue a public apology continues, we will take additional measures,” Lee said in a social media post. Lee also expressed “grave regret” over what he described as Ukrainian remarks about an imminent military...
The two Koreas urgently need to restore military communication to prevent a landmine dispute in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) from escalating into an armed clash, according to observers. The danger is growing as North Korea presses ahead with leader Kim Jong-un’s order to fortify its side of the 4km (2.5 mile) wide buffer zone separating it from the South. South Korea views the works, including the laying of mines near the sparsely marked Military Demarcation Line (MDL) running through the centre...
North Korea has this Wednesday rejected accusations that it planted the mines that injured three South Korean soldiers in the DMZ on September 21. In a statement, Kim Jo Jong, Kim Jong Un's powerful sister, threatened retaliation against the south if there is any escalation.