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North Korea
Sat, August 20, 2022 | 11:07
N. Korea's trade volume posts record high
작년 북한 대외무역 73억 달러…역대 최대
Posted : 2014-05-22 16:23
Updated : 2014-05-22 19:14
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By Chung Min-uck

North Korea saw its trade volume reach a record high last year despite tough international sanctions, according to figures from the state-run Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Thursday, mainly due to robust trade relations with China, its main ally.

The KOTRA data showed Pyongyang's total trade volume jumped to $7.3 billion last year, up 7.8 percent compared to the previous year, with both exports and imports growing by 11.7 and 5 percents, respectively.

Consequently, the trade deficit for the country was also reduced to $980 million from about $1 billion a year earlier, according to the trade agency.

The total trade volume marked a record high since the trade agency began compiling the data of North Korea's state of trading in 1990, said KOTRA.

But the data showed that the reclusive nation's reliance on China still remained high, accounting for almost 90 percent of all trading.

The North's export items are largely natural resources including bituminous coal, iron ore and mineral ore, whereas, its major import items from China are electricity, grain and transportation devices.

Experts say the numbers show Beijing's earlier call for strengthened economic sanctions to be imposed on its communist ally did not have any significant impact, and that the world's No. 2 economy appears to be taking a different path, vis-à-vis other countries, when dealing with the provocative nation.

Led by the United States, its allies including Seoul and Tokyo and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have agreed to strengthen economic sanctions on the North in early 2013 following the North's missile launches and a nuclear test.

Beijing, a veto-wielding permanent member of the powerful UNSC, voted for the move and also on numerous occasions urged its neighboring country to abandon nuclear weapons and missile programs.

"For China, the strategic value of North Korea grows more and more in proportion to its rivalry with the U.S. and Japan," said Yoon Dae-kyu, director of Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University. "North Korea borders China's territory and the stability in North Korea is the most important thing for China."

"China will surely participate in the international move of implementing sanctions on the North but only to a point where the sanctions don't hurt North Korea's stability," the director added.

Meanwhile, given the heavy reliance on China, some experts say the North will turn to Russia, its second largest trading partner, or South Korea to diversify its markets.

Dubbed the May 24 measures, almost all trade exchanges with the North, except for the inter-Korean factory park in the North's border city of Gaeseong, were severed on May 24, 2010, following the North's torpedoing of the South Korean corvette Cheonan in the West Sea in March that year.

The bilateral sanctions rapidly decreased the volume of cross-border trading which allegedly led to Pyongyang's high level of trade dependence on China.


작년 북한 대외무역 73억 달러…역대 최대

중국 의존도 89.1%, 광물이 주요 수출품

지난해 핵실험 등에 따른 국제사회의 제재 분위기 속에서도 북한의 대외무역 규모가 중국과의 거래에 힘입어 역대 최대치를 기록한 것으로 나타났다.

22일 코트라가 발표한 '북한 대외무역동향 보고서'에 따르면 지난해 남북교역을 제외한 북한의 대외교역 규모는 전년보다 7.8% 증가한 73억4천만 달러(7조5천억여원)를 기록했다. 코트라가 집계를 시작한 1990년 이후로 가장 큰 규모다.

북한의 수출액은 11.7% 증가한 32억2천만 달러, 수입은 5.0% 늘어난 41억3천만 달러로 집계됐다. 무역적자는 전년(10억5천만 달러)보다 다소 축소된 9억800만 달러였다.

최대 교역 상대국은 중국이다. 교역 규모가 65억4천만 달러로, 전체 교역액의 89.1%를 차지했다. 북한의 대(對)중국 교역 의존도는 2005년 50%를 넘어선 이후 계속 상승세를 이어왔다고 코트라는 소개했다.

작년 2월 북한의 핵실험 이후 중국 정부도 북한과의 수출입 통관을 강화하는 등 국제적 제재 움직임에 동참했지만 실질적으로는 북중 교역에 큰 영향을 주지 못한 것으로 코트라는 분석했다.

북한은 석탄과 철광석 등 광물자원과 섬유 및 의류 수출이 많았고 전기 및 수송기기, 곡물 등을 주로 수입했다.

러시아와 인도, 태국, 싱가포르가 북한과의 교역액 2∼5위 국가로 꼽혔다.

지난해 러시아와의 교역액은 1억400만 달러(수출 700만 달러, 수입 9천700만 달러)로 37.3%나 늘었다. 작년 하반기 나진-하산 구간 철도 개통으로 기계류와 수송기기의 수입이 급증한 데 따른 것으로 보인다.

대만(6위)과 홍콩(7위)에 이어 교역 규모 8위인 우크라이나는 2012년 북한과 교역 순위가 35위였지만 지난해 항공기와 관련 부품을 북한에 대량 수출하면서 순위가 급상승했다.

일본은 2009년 이후 교역 실적이 전무했고, 미국 역시 대북 경제제재 조치를 강화하면서 식량 등 인도적 차원의 품목만 원조하는 데 그쳤다고 코트라는 덧붙였다.

코트라 관계자는 '북한의 대외무역은 중국으로의 광물 수출 증가로 2010년 이후 4년 연속 상승세를 타고 있다'며 '북한은 최근 러시아와의 고위급 접촉 등을 감안할 때 중국 무역 의존도를 낮추기 위해 러시아와 관계 확대에 나설 것으로 보인다'고 말했다. (연합뉴스)
Emailmuchung@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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