hankyoreh

Trucks carry goods into Sinuiju

The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge over the Yalu River, which is a major conduit of trade between China and North Korea, will soon be closing temporarily. The Chinese authorities announced that the closure is a “measure for maintenance and repairs,” but there are questions about China’s real motivations considering that this comes immediately after China’s special envoy to North Korea returned empty-handed, without even meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The Sino-Chinese Friendship Bridge is a 940-meter long bridge, containing vehicle lanes and a rail line that connects the North Korean city of Sinuiju with the Chinese city of Dandong, in Liaoning Province. The bridge is a major link between China and North Korea, carrying 70% of the goods traded between them.

When asked during the regular press briefing on Nov. 24 whether it was true that China had announced that the bridge would be closed, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said, “the China-DPRK friendship bridge will be closed temporarily in the near future for repair work on the bridge floor by the DPRK. It will be reopened after the repair is finished.” As for whether the bridge would be closed in the middle of the next month, Geng declined to provide a specific timeframe, only explaining that he had been told it would be closed “in the near future.”

Kyodo News reported that the Chinese authorities had announced on Nov. 22 that they would be closing the Sino-Korean friendship bridge for 10 days of repairs, starting on Nov. 24, before announcing that this plan had been cancelled on the afternoon of Nov. 23 without providing a reason. “They had even posted a notice about the closure, but today vehicles are passing over the bridge. There are also reports that the bridge will be closed in the middle of next month, but I don’t think we’ll know until then,” said a local source who spoke with the Hankyoreh on Nov. 24.

Previously, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun quoted a local customs official as saying that “the rail line on the Sino-Chinese Friendship Bridge is being closed for 10 days of repair work” and suggested that China might have been sending the North another warning that it would be taking steps to limit trade even further. An anonymous source who is connected with North Korea-China relations told the newspaper that “this was a message to North Korea that [China] is willing to constrain trade [even more in the future].”

Another interpretation of signs that China is closing the Sino-Chinese Friendship Bridge, which is a lifeline for trade between North Korea and China, is that this is a response to the cold treatment that Song Tao, head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), received during his visit to North Korea from Nov. 17 to 20 as a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping. While in North Korea, Song was unable to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But since the Sino-Chinese Friendship Bridge is an old structure that has undergone repairs on several occasions since being built in 1943, it is too early to conclude that China is taking steps to put more pressure on North Korea.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent and Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent

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