🔻The first road bridge between Russia and North Korea was inaugurated; a bridge that makes transporting goods and passengers via the two countries’ shared border easier.

This move is seen as yet another sign of the two countries drawing closer. The bridge extends from Russia’s Primorsky Territory border over the Tumen River toward North Korea, and its length is one kilometer.

The bridge has been named in honor of Yakov Novichenko, a Soviet Union officer; the only non-Korean person to have received North Korea’s highest honor. He received the honor for protecting Kim Il Sung, the former leader of North Korea, from an assassination attempt in Pyongyang in 1946.

TASS reported in an interview with Novichenko’s grandson that he plans to drive his grandfather’s car across this bridge and enter North Korea.

📸Reuters