Kim Jong Un Arrives in Chinese Border City of Dandong via New Yalu River Bridge, South Korean Official Says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong on Saturday, Oct. 24, crossing the New Yalu River Bridge, according to a South Korean government official who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. South Korea's Yonhap news agency carried the same account, citing a government source.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Kim in the city, Yonhap said. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and South Korea's Unification Ministry had no immediate comment.

The timing is pointed. The visit falls a day before the anniversary of China's entry into the 1950-53 Korean War, on China's side.

The bridge

The New Yalu River Bridge links Sinuiju in North Korea with Dandong in China's Liaoning province. The 3-km, four-lane structure was finished in 2014 but sat unused for 12 years. South Korean news reports attributed the delay to missing connecting roads and customs facilities on the North Korean side.

The two countries officially opened it on Oct. 15. It is their most significant land border crossing, and the stated aim is to revive trade after years of strained ties and pandemic-era disruption.

Lu Chao, a China-North Korea specialist at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, a Chinese government think-tank in Shenyang, said the opening "has resolved a major bottleneck in China-North Korea trade logistics." He expects bilateral trade to rise further. The bridge is expected to help move heavy equipment, raw materials and energy products that North Korea needs.

A warming relationship

Kim's last known trip to China was in September 2025, when he attended the 80th Victory Day celebrations in Beijing and held a summit with Xi Jinping. Xi made a state visit to North Korea in June. That makes two leader-level summits in 13 months.

China remains Pyongyang's main economic and diplomatic backer and accounts for most of its official trade. But North Korea has also moved closer to Russia since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, sending troops to support the Kremlin's war effort in return for economic benefits and military technology. Analysts say that has reduced Pyongyang's reliance on Beijing. North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge a little more than a month ago, and Pyongyang called it a sign of closer ties.

Christopher Green, a Korea specialist at Leiden University, urged caution on reading Kim's intentions. "It is too early to divine Kim's intentions because he is only in Dandong," he said. On a Xi-Kim summit: "Probably — it would be surprising if there were not. However, nothing is certain at this stage."

Tension on the peninsula

The trip comes during a tense week between the two Koreas. Seoul blamed an explosion inside the Demilitarized Zone that injured South Korean soldiers on North Korean landmines. Pyongyang strongly rejects that claim and has also rejected the South's demand for an apology.

On Friday, South Korea proposed military talks to clarify the border and restore communication channels. North Korea has not responded. Separately, Kim Yo Jong, Kim's sister, warned Seoul this week that border loudspeakers would be ready within days.

Hours before news of the Dandong trip, North Korean state media said Kim told company commanders at a two-day meeting in Pyongyang to train to become the strongest military in the world. He called it a "Korean-style military revolution."

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who has repeatedly offered Pyongyang talks without preconditions, suggested in September that Washington seek a freeze of North Korea's nuclear program, rather than immediate elimination, in return for sanctions relief. North Korea has written its nuclear-armed status into law and calls its arsenal permanent and irreversible.

Washington's stake

President Donald Trump has been eager to restart talks with Kim. Reuters reported Friday that US and South Korean officials see fading chances of a Trump-Kim meeting this year.

China hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen next month, and Trump is expected to attend. Beijing is the one capital that holds economic leverage over Pyongyang and a direct line to Kim, and Kim is now on Chinese soil a few weeks before Trump is expected to arrive in China.

No Chinese or North Korean announcement of the itinerary has been made. The open questions are whether Kim travels beyond Dandong to meet Xi, and whether Pyongyang answers Seoul's offer of military talks.