Trade between South and North Korea has decreased for the second consecutive month due to an economic downturn and chilled cross-border relations, Yonhap News reported Saturday quoting the Unification Ministry.
Inter-Korean trade fell 27.7 percent in November from a year earlier to $142.72 million, according to the ministry data posted on its Web site.
"Payments to North Korea are mostly made in dollars or euro, so the weak Korean currency has been the primary reason behind the falling trade," a ministry official was quoted as saying.
More than 80 South Korean firms produce watches, shoes, clothes and kitchenware at a joint industrial complex in the North's border town of Gaeseong. North Korea also exports sand to the South.
In October, South and North Korea traded goods and services worth $163.06 million, down 23.2 percent from a year earlier.
Inter-Korean trade for December is expected to drop further as North Korea curtailed business operations in the Gaeseong complex in retaliation against Seoul's hardline policy toward it. The number of South Koreans allowed to stay in Gaeseong was cut in half as of Dec. 1. The North has also suspended tours to its Geumgang mountain resort and curtailed border traffic.
Meanwhile, inter-Korean trade from January to November reached $1.69 billion, an increase of 3.7 percent from the same period in 2007.
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