BEIJING, March 14 (Reuters) – China has acquired a 10-year lease of Rajin port on North Korea's east coast, potentially increasing shipping access to the Sea of Japan, a provincial official said during China's annual legislative meeting.

Li Longxi, governor of the Yanbian prefecture in China's Jilin province bordering North Korea, said the lease would help the province ship coal to southern China and Japan, easing transport bottlenecks, China News Service reported over the weekend.

The lease would give Chinese shippers access to the Sea of Japan, a goal that motivated a project to develop the mouth of the Tumen River into a free trade zone operated jointly by China, Russia and North Korea, still mired in the planning stages.

Jilin province will step up efforts to build the tri-nation Tumen River economic zone, Li added.

Rajin is the largest port in Rason, also known as Rajin-Songbong, which North Korea designated as a free trade zone in 1991, and has access to rail lines to Russia and China.