By Choi Sung-jin
The two-way trade between North Korea and China totaled about $5.32 billion last year, down nearly 15 percent from 2014, officials said.
According to Chinese customs statistics available at KOTRA’s Beijing office, China’s export to North Korea in 2015 totaled $2.94 billion, down 16.35 percent from 2014, and its import from the North also dropped 12.58 percent to $2.48 billion.
As a result, China recorded surplus of $460 million in its trade with North Korea, the tally showed, the Yonhap News reported.
The China-North Korea trade peaked at $6.54 billion in 2013 and has since recorded downfalls for two consecutive years. North Korea watchers said these may have something to do with the North’s third nuclear test in 2013 and its execution of Jang Seong-taek, who was the uncle and mentor of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
By item, North Korea’s export of anthracite coal fell 7.57 percent to $1.04 billion. Its iron ore export even plunged far more steeply to $720 million, down 67.21 percent.
China’s rice export to the North also plummeted 71.1 percent to $10.7 million. China’s oil export to the isolationist state was zero at least in official statistics, for the 24 consecutive months since January 2014, it showed.