The Korea–Russia Friendship Bridge ( ko, 조선–러시아 우정의 다리 ''Chosŏn–Rossiya Ujŏngŭi Dali'', russian: Мост Дружбы, Most Druzhby) is a rail bridge over the Tumen River. It was commissioned in 1959 as a replacement for a temporary wooden bridge. Located immediately downstream from the

China–North Korea–Russia tripoint The China–North Korea–Russia tripoint is the tripoint where the China–Russia border and the North Korea–Russia border intersect. The tripoint is in the Tumen River about 500 meters upstream from Korea Russia Friendship Bridge and under 2 ...

, the bridge is the sole crossing point on the 17 km long North Korea–Russia border. Planks are laid between the tracks making crossing of road vehicles possible by special arrangement, but it is primarily a rail bridge. The tracks are

dual gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...

because the Russian railroad system uses a track gauge of 1,520 mm () while the North Korean system uses 1,435 mm (). The bridge is served by the

Khasan railway station Khasan railway station is a railway station on the Baranovsky-Khasan railway line in the village of Khasan, Khasansky District, Primorsky Krai, Russia. It belongs to the Vladivostok branch of the Far Eastern Railway.Железнодорожны� ...

on Russian soil and

Tumangang Station Tumangang station is a railway station in Tumangang-rodongjagu, Sŏnbong, Rasŏn Special City, North Korea, on the Hongŭi Line of the Korean State Railway.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), In 2008, construction ...

on the North Korean side of the river. In October 2017 a

fiber optic cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...

running across the bridge provided North Korea with an additional connection to the global Internet through Russia's

TransTelekom TransTelecom (russian: ТрансТелеКо́м (ТТК)) is a major telecommunications company in Russia that owns one of the largest networks in the world of fiber optical cables. The company is a full subsidiary of Russian national railway op ...

provider, a subsidiary of Russian national railway operator Russian Railways. It allows the country to be less dependent on its primary internet connection through China Unicom (similarly running over the

Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, or China–North Korea Friendship Bridge, is a bridge across the Yalu or Amnok River on the China–North Korea border. It connects the cities of Dandong in China and Sinuiju of North Korea, by railway and ro ...

), after it was the target of a

DDoS In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host A ...

attack during the

2017 North Korea crisis Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

. Use of the bridge was suspended through the COVID-19 pandemic, with use resuming in November 2022.

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* North Korea–Russia border crossings Bridges in North Korea Railway bridges in Russia Bridges completed in 1959 Bridges built in the Soviet Union Korea–Soviet Union relations International bridges Soviet foreign aid 1959 establishments in Russia 1959 establishments in North Korea {{NorthKorea-struct-stub

See also

References

External links