Russia doubles down on China-North Korea alliance

Russia and North Korea signed a strategic partnership agreement last month. In addition to pledging mutual military aid, the two sides also plan to build a new bridge across their shared border. The deal could have implications for China and its quest for access to the Sea of ​​Japan.

The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty was signed on June 19 when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, further deepening long-standing relations that date back to the Cold War.

The proposed new road bridge will be built over the Tumen River, which forms a natural border between the two neighbours. Further upstream, however, lies their triple border with China.

North Korea is China’s only formal ally under a mutual assistance treaty signed in 1961.

The Korea-Russia Friendship Bridge remains the only crossing point on their 10-mile land border. A railway bridge built over the Tumen River opened 65 years ago, and a new crossing would boost traffic and thus tourism and trade, benefiting both countries as they try to offset the effects of Western economic sanctions.

Choi Eun Ju, a researcher at South Korea’s Sejong Institute, told Radio Free Asia’s Korean newsroom that the new bridge connecting the northeastern part of the North with the Russian Far East will be completed on schedule, unlike the new Yalu River bridge connecting the North with China, which is mostly completed but has not yet been opened.

The expert noted, however, that the lack of supporting infrastructure in Russia and North Korea hinders the flow of goods and people across the new bridge.

According to RFA professor Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul, any benefits from tourism and trade will likely only be felt in the long term.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and the North Korean embassy in Beijing did not respond to separate requests for comment before publication.

The new plan to build a bridge over the Tumen River, which has not yet been named, comes after Russia and China announced in May their intention to discuss the use of the waterway by Chinese ships to reach the Sea of ​​Japan, known in both Koreas as the East Sea.

Beijing’s formal access to the strategic body of water in the western Pacific Ocean currently ends about nine miles upstream, at the Tripoint.

Moscow and Beijing will engage in a constructive dialogue with Pyongyang on river navigation, according to a joint statement issued after a summit between Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Currently, Chinese ships must get permission from both neighbors before sailing from the final 324-mile stretch of the Tumen River into the Sea of ​​Japan.

China is also considering widening the river to allow larger ships to pass through, according to a financial magazine. Nikkei Asia.

China plans to send coast guard ships, which are typically larger than those in the region, directly into the Sea of ​​Japan via the Tumen River, which could pose a strategic problem for Japan, Kyushu University professor Chisako Masuo said in an interview.