North Korea hails first street bridge to Russia

[ad_1] North Korea has mentioned the event of its first street bridge to Russia is a "important" milestone in relations between the 2 nations, based on the nation's state media KCNA.

Building of the bridge - set to span the Tumen river within the nation's northeast - started on Wednesday. It will likely be located close to the one different land connection between Russia and North Korea - a Soviet period rail bridge known as the 'Friendship Bridge'.

The bridge is ready for completion by mid-2026, based on Russia's Kommersant newspaper.

It comes shortly after North Korea confirmed for the primary time that it had despatched troops to assist Russia in its conflict towards Ukraine.

The brand new bridge is the most recent signal of deepening ties between the 2 heavily-sanctioned nations, which have drawn nearer since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Plans for the brand new bridge had been determined throughout Russian president Vladimir Putin's go to to Pyongyang final yr, the place he signed an settlement on "complete strategic partnership" with North Korea - the very best degree of bilateral ties for Moscow.

At a ceremony marking the beginning of the bridge's building, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin mentioned the bridge was "far past simply an engineering process".

"It symbolises our frequent want to strengthen pleasant, good-neighbourly relations and enhance inter-regional cooperation," he added.

Building of the bridge started on the identical day South Korean lawmakers mentioned greater than 600 North Korean troops had been killed preventing for Russia in its conflict towards Ukraine, citing their intelligence officers.

In return for navy assist, Moscow appeared to have offered Pyongyang with technical help on spy satellites, drones and anti-air missiles, they added.

Earlier this week, North Korea mentioned its troopers had helped "utterly liberate" Russia's Kursk border area, eight months after Ukraine's shock incursion.