The road bridge under construction across the Tumen River stands behind the rail bridge that has been the only crossing between North Korea and Russia since 1959, on Nov. 9, 2025.TASS/YONHAP
The first road bridge between North Korea and Russia will carry the name of a Soviet officer who smothered a grenade thrown at Kim Il Sung 80 years ago.
"We plan to open the bridge between Russia and North Korea, as well as the accompanying Khasan road border crossing, in the very near future," Russian Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin said on Thursday in an interview with Tass in Vladivostok.
Russia suggested to name the bridge Yakov Novichenko, which Pyongyang accepted.
Novichenko was a junior lieutenant stationed in Pyongyang after the Soviet Union's defeat of Japan in the final days of World War II. On March 1, 1946, at a rally near Pyongyang Station marking the 27th anniversary of the March First Independence Movement, someone threw a grenade toward the platform where the North Korean founder, then chairman of the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea, was speaking. Novichenko caught it, could not throw it clear of the crowd so covered it with his body.
A book he had tucked inside his coat absorbed part of the blast and saved his life. He lost his right hand and suffered eye injuries.
A vehicle carrying a portrait of Kim Il Sung leads a commemorative march at the square outside the Pyongyang Gymnasium on July 27, in this image released the following day by Korean Central Television. The North marks the date, the anniversary of the 1953 Korean War armistice, as its so-called Victory Day.YONHAP
Kim met Novichenko again during an official visit to the Soviet Union in 1984, later invited him to North Korea and made him a Labor Hero, the North's highest title. Novichenko remains the only foreigner ever to receive it. He died in December 1994, five months after Kim.
Minister Nikitin said the road link would streamline logistics, lift trade between the two countries and cut transport costs for businesses. Until now the only land crossing has been the Friendship Bridge, a rail span opened in 1959, which means all traffic between the two countries has moved by train.
The road bridge was agreed at the June 2024 summit between Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, and construction began in April last year beside the existing rail bridge. Russia said at a ceremony in April marking the joining of the two spans that the bridge would be finished by June 19, a deadline it missed. A first crossing is now expected this month.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
