Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and his North Korean counterpart Pak Thae Song, via video conference, opened a new automobile bridge across the Tumen River on the border between the two countries. The engineering structure was named after the Soviet officer Yakov Novichenko (1914-1994).
It is symbolic that the new bridge will bear the name of the Red Army officer Yakov Tikhonovich Novichenko.
Yakov Novichenko saved the life of Kim Il Sung (leader of the DPRK from 1948 to 1994, father of the current head of state Kim Jong Un). On March 1, 1946, when the politician was speaking from the rostrum, a grenade was thrown at him. The Soviet soldier intercepted it and covered it with his own body. He received serious injuries but survived. Kim Il Sung was not harmed.
The bridge across the Tumen River is an example of successful technological cooperation between the two countries, said Russian Minister of Transport Andrey Nikitin.
Colleagues checked the implemented technical solutions, found new approaches, and ensured timely and synchronized bridge launching.
According to Nikitin, Russia and North Korea plan to continue cooperating to create civilian infrastructure.
Since 1959, a railway crossing across the Tumen River has been open between the two countries. In June 2024, Russian and North Korean authorities signed an agreement on the construction of an automobile bridge.
The project began in April 2025. The length of the two-lane cross-border crossing was almost 5 km, and the bridge itself was 1 km.
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