The Indiscriminate News Network

The Indiscriminate News Network

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  • Who is North Korea's Trade Partners

    Lets discuss an intriguing story in global trade - North Korea, the notoriously secretive nation, still finding ways to move goods in and out, to the tune of a billion US dollars in 2022.

    North Korea has earned the nickname "the hermit kingdom" due to its isolationism and secrecy. Yet some trade does flow across its borders. Data from the UN Comtrade database shows North Korea imported and exported about a billion dollars worth of goods last year. That might sound like a lot, but it's far less than 5 years ago.

    In fact, North Korean trade has been on a dramatic decline. Back in 2015, they exported 2.8 billion dollars worth of goods. By 2017, sliced by more than half - down to 1.7 billion. Last year? A mere 192 million dollars in exports. Their imports tell a similar story - 3 and a half billion in 2015, now down to 903 million.

    It seems global sanctions on the nation, even before the pandemic, started isolating them from world trade. China now clearly dominates as North Korea's main trade partner. In 2015, China already represented 85% of North Korean import trade. That figure now stands at an astonishing 99% - proof the pandemic sealed the so-called hermit kingdom off even further.

    Yet China fuels the majority of North Korea's exports too, buying nearly 70% of their outbound goods. Still a handful of European nations maintain trade ties - notably Poland and the Netherlands. Just last year Poland imported 10 million dollars worth of North Korean plastics, machinery and steel. The Dutch bought 8 million in nickel and airplane parts.

    Of course those numbers pale compared to China's vast trade footprint with Pyongyang. The pandemic has slammed borders shut and slowed global trade to a crawl for most countries. But isolationist North Korea was already retreating from the world stage - so the disruption to their economy may cut even deeper.

    As sanctions continue and Covid impacts linger, it remains to be seen how North Korea will respond and reshape their place in global trade and diplomacy going forward. More isolationism? Or renewed engagement? That's the big question looming over the hermit kingdom.

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