N. Korean economic growth slows in 2014
North Korea's economic growth is estimated to have slowed last year from a year earlier as its staple primary industries posted tepid performances, data showed Friday.The North's economy is projected to have expanded 1 percent in 2014, decelerating from the 1.1 percent on-year growth in the previous year, according to the data compiled by South Korea's central bank, the Bank of Korea (BOK).It has posted economic expansions for four years in a row since it contracted 0.9 percent and 0.5 percent in 2009 and 2010, respectively.The BOK explained that the North's construction sector lent support to the overall growth, bouncing back to a 1.4 percent on-year growth last year from a 1 percent fall the previous year.Pyongyang's agricultural and fishery industry, which accounts for 21.8 percent of its total output, expanded 1.2 percent last year, slowing from 1.9 percent growth in 2013.Growth in its mining and manufacturing sector, which accounts for 34.4 percent of overall output, gained 1.1 percent, down from 1.5 percent a year earlier.The data, meanwhile, showed that North Korea's nominal g
