Khasan (urban-type settlement)

Khasan (Хаса́н) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Khasansky District of Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is located near the tripoint on the Tumen River where the borders of Russia, China and North Korea converge. Population: Khasan is the only Russian-inhabited locality on the border with North Korea. It lies near Lake Khasan and the Tumen River. The border between Russia and North Korea is formed by the river, but the Tumen's course sometimes changes during floods, effectively diminishing the territory of Russia and threatening to flood the settlement of Khasan and the Peschanaya border station. Since 2003, work has been progressing to reinforce the area with rocky soil for protection against erosion by the river. There is an unobtrusive Russian outpost near the border with a large radar array. On the North Korean side of the border lies Tumangang. The closest Chinese town is Fangchuan. Khasan railway station Khasan has a railway station on the Baranovsky-Khasan railway line from Vladivostok to Rason in North Korea. It is the link between Russia and North Korea, by a rail bridge over the Tumen River called the Korean-Russian Friendship Bridge (Korean: 조로친선교). The North Korean station in Tumangang Workers' District, Sonbong, is directly across the river. Construction began on the railway line from Baranovsky railway station to a point 190 km away in the direction opposite of Kraskino, and was completed in 1941. After World War II, the Baranovski-Kraskino line was continued to the border with North Korea, resulting in a total length of . The end of the line was the Khasan station, located near Lake Khasan. The Khasan station opened for operation on September 28, 1951. It has long remained a dead-end: across the Tumen River, which forms the state border, a temporary wooden bridge was built, which carried its first working train into Korea in 1952. Exchange of goods between the Soviet Union and North Korea by rail through the Khasan station began in 1954.