According to Yonhap:
Trade between South and North Korea fell to its lowest level in eight years in 2013 due to their strained relations, data showed Sunday.
Inter-Korean trade reached US$1.15 billion last year, down a whopping 41.9 percent from the previous year’s $1.98 billion, according to the data from the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).
South Korean exports to the North nose-dived 41.1 percent on-year to $531.8 million, with imports from the communist country sinking 42.5 percent to $617.2 million.
The 2013 inter-Korean trade volume was the lowest since 2005, when the figure came to $1.06 billion.
…
In contrast to the plunge in trade with South Korea, the North’s trade with China, its chief ally and largest benefactor, jumped 10.4 percent on-year to a record high of $6.54 billion last year, according to the data.
Between 2009 and 2014, North Korea’s trade volume with China, the world’s second-largest economy, had been growing an annual average of more than 40 percent, the data showed.
According to the Choson Ilbo:
Inter-Korean trade fell to 18 percent of the North’s trade with China, the lowest since 2005.
…
South Korea’s imports of textile goods and electric and electronic products from the North fell 45 percent and 43 percent, while the North’s imports of mineral and textile products from China increased 15 percent and 33 percent.
Of course inter-Korean trade was down due to the DPRK’s closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). Once the complex was reopened, trade began to recover.
More on China-DPRK trade in 2013 here.
Read the full stories here:
Inter-Korean trade hits 8-year low in 2013
Yonhap
2014-2-23
N.Korean Trade with China Grows
Choson Ilbo
2014-2-24
