A pile of mangled steel is an unlikely tourist attraction, but this aftermath of the Korean War is a symbolic reminder of a conflict which has shaped the region. There were two bridges crossing the Yalu River near Dandong, but in 1950 American troops ‘accidentally’ bombed the original steel-span bridge between North Korea and China. The North Koreans dismantled the bridge less than halfway across the river, leaving a row of support columns.
You can wander along the remaining section of the shrapnel-scarred bridge and get within a good toss of a ball of the North Korean shoreline and an amusement park largely in disrepair, left behind by history.
The Sino–Korean Friendship Bridge, the official border crossing between China and North Korea, is next to the old one, and trains and trucks rumble across it on a regular basis.
