(LEAD) N. Korea, China open new cross-border bridge 12 yrs after completion

(ATTN: REWRITES lead; ADDS photo, more details throughout)

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea and China officially opened a new cross-border bridge Thursday, 12 years after the completion of construction, a Chinese news report showed, in a move expected to boost exchanges of people and trade between the two nations.

An opening ceremony was held for the bridge across the Amnok River, also known as the Yalu River, according to China's Xinhua News Agency. It connects the North Korean city of Sinuiju and Dandong in China.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang and his North Korean counterpart, Pak Thae-song, attended the opening event via video conference, the report said.

Li called the bridge "key cross-border infrastructure" pursued by Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, one that would "strongly facilitate" economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

The bilateral relations "have entered a new phase," he said, vowing to implement the June summit agreements in Pyongyang, in which Kim and Xi pledged to elevate ties to a strategic level and enhance exchanges.

Pak also gave an address, but Xinhua did not report what he said.

The two countries had agreed to build a new road bridge downstream from the old one in 2010, according to Xinhua.

Construction began in October 2011 and ended in October 2014, but the four-lane motor bridge sat unused because North Korea did not finish the buildings and infrastructure on its side.

The bridge's deck is 28.5 meters wide, and the channel beneath it is designed to accommodate vessels of up to 3,000 tons, the report said.

The bridge is expected to boost trade and the movement of people and ease congestion on the Friendship Bridge, which has served as the main crossing since its 1943 opening. That bridge, Xinhua said, "could only accommodate trucks weighing no more than 20 tons for one-way road traffic."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said a day earlier the new bridge would "further facilitate trade and people-to-people exchanges."

"The new bridge is an important facility for connectivity between the two countries," he added, as Dandong is China's largest border trade port with North Korea.

An official at South Korea's unification ministry on Thursday called it "the first tangible implementation of the agreements reached during the June summit."

"We will monitor any further development as this could be a concrete step toward deepening strategic ties," the official said.

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr
(END)