The ceremony will take place on September 7 on the border of Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the participation of the head of the Russian government has been announced in videoconference format.
From the Russian side, the event will also be attended by Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov, Minister of Transport Andrey Nikitin, Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov, and Primorsky Krai Governor Oleg Kozhemyako.
The agreement on implementing the project was signed in 2024 in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chairman of State Affairs of North Korea Kim Jong Un, and the start of construction work on April 30, 2025, was given by Mikhail Mishustin and Pak Thae Song.
The new bridge is expected to provide year-round road traffic between the two countries, which Russia and North Korea previously did not have despite their common border, and to supplement the capabilities of the railway route across the Friendship Bridge over the Tumen.
The Russian government links the project primarily to the Far East and Primorye: there they expect an increase in freight traffic, lower transport costs, and more stable supplies of goods, which should support trade and economic cooperation.
The new crossing was named the Yakov Novichenko Bridge — in honor of a Red Army officer and Hero of Labor of North Korea, who in 1946 covered a grenade thrown at Kim Il Sung with his body. The length of the bridge crossing is almost 5 km, the bridge itself is about 1 km long, two traffic lanes are provided for vehicles, and the Khasan checkpoint has been built in parallel with 10 lanes; after reaching full capacity, it will be able to process 300 vehicles and 2,325 people per day.
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