Russia has confirmed a plan to build the 'Tumangang Automobile Road' to increase trade with North Korea.
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the 4th, the Russian government recently signed a contract with its construction company, Tonnelyuzstroy, for the design and construction of the Tumangang Automobile Road bridge.
The Tumangang Automobile Road will be constructed as a two-lane, 800-meter long, 10-meter wide road in the Primorsky Krai border area between North Korea and Russia. The completion date is set for Dec. 31, 2026.
The construction of this road was finalized during the North Korea-Russia summit in June of last year, where Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, agreed to construct the Tumangang border road bridge.
Once the Tumangang Automobile Road is completed, it is expected to facilitate a significantly larger volume of logistics compared to the existing railway, leading to a rapid increase in trade between the two countries.
Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the Rand Corporation, noted, "This could be a way for Russia to increase trade with North Korea," adding that "there is no doubt that it comes as a price for supplying North Korean weapons."
Claims have been made by the Ukrainian side that 60% of the ammunition currently used by Russia in the war against Ukraine is supplied by North Korea.
It is also reported that North Korea deployed more than 12,000 troops to the Kursk region, which has been occupied by Ukraine since its offensive last October.