Hong Kong rises to DPRK’s no two trading partner

According to the South China Morning Post:

In 2012, Hong Kong became North Korea’s No 2 trading partner with two-way trade reaching US$111 million (HK$861 million), rising 457 per cent from the year before, according to data from a South Korean trade organisation.

Last year alone, the Stalinist country exported US$58 million (HK$450m) worth of goods to Hong Kong and imported items worth nearly US$53 million (HK$411m) from the city, according to a recent report by South Korea’s government-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

The upward trend in two-way trade might be explained as a one-time jump, but experts suggest that Hong Kong may be part of the mainland China’s broader agenda for its relations with North Korea.

“Hong Kong is a tool for Sino-Korean relations because it can play certain functions in pushing forward the relationship between Beijing and North Korea,” explained Steve Chung, a professor of international relations at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The rise in trade between North Korea and Hong Kong in recent years coincides with the establishment of a joint industrial zone to be operated by Beijing and Pyongyang.

Read the full story here:
How did Hong Kong become North Korea’s No 2 trading partner?
South China Morning Post
Audrey Yoo
2013-10-9

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