With such an initiative, the Russian Minister for the Development of the Far East, Alexander Galushka, made a speech during a visit to the DPRK on March 21-22, writes the Washington Post..

According to the sources of the newspaper, the bridge construction project is under discussion.

To date, the only land route for the delivery of passengers and goods from one country to another is the railway. The railway bridge over the Tumen River - Friendship Bridge was built in 1959.

According to the publication, to connect Russia with North Korea by an automobile bridge was decidedly due to the increased volume of road transport that is now being carried out through the territory of China, where 23 checkpoints for cars.

Direct road communication between Russia and the DPRK will significantly reduce travel time and, accordingly, transportation costs.

Experts questioned by the publication asked the question, why do Russia and North Korea need a bridge if Moscow joined the UN sanctions, within which the DPRK is actually under a trade embargo?.

According to Binyamin Silberstein of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, this project is more symbolic in nature. Nevertheless, he said, "many seem to believe that in the long term, trade will return to its previous level".

The previous level, however, was also not up to par..

As of 2013, Russia's share in the North Korean trade turnover was only 1%, and in recent years it has become even smaller.

According to Artyom Lukin, professor of the Far Eastern Federal University, "no private or state investor will invest in the project until the political risks around North Korea seriously decrease".

At the same time, according to him, "sooner or later, North Korea will come out of isolation and then the bridge will be in great demand".

Source: Channel 9.