The international sanctions, the economy of North Korea so strong to break as for the past 20 years. Particularly, industrial production and the trade with China declined significantly.
According to estimates by the South Korean Central Bank (BOK) is shrunk, the gross domestic product in North Korea to 2017 by 3.5 percent. Accordingly, the industrial production fell by 8.5 per cent, and thus also as strong as last updated in 1997. Due to the limited access of North Korea to be carriers of Oil and other energy. Also the production of agriculture and Construction activity have noticeably subsided. “The sanctions were, in 2017, more than in 2016,” said BOK-expert Shin Seung Cheol. “With the ban on the export of coal, steel, fisheries and textile products, the decreased volume of foreign trade.”
It is difficult to calculate the exact extent of the recession, but the export bans would allow the industrial production to collapse, said Shin. The steep downturn comes at a time in the professionals, urging the isolated country to focus on economic development. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un had declared to shift the strategic focus of the country from the development of its nuclear weapons Arsenal on the imitation of the “socialist economic construction” in China.
Difficult Data Situation
The calculations of the GDP and to the development of the individual sectors of the economy in North Korea are considered to be uncertain, as from the country as well as no current data on economic performance to be released. The Central Bank in Seoul relies mainly on data from the secret service and of research institutes specializing in North Korea. The research by the Bank also include the Monitoring of agricultural land, traffic observation and Interviews with Defectors.
Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Un at the summit in Singapore in June 2018
North Korea’s ruler, Kim had to work at the summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore generally known, “a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”. Remained open but how and when the nuclear weapons program is to be handled.
US secret service coordinator Dan Coats now signalled that this could happen within a year, but admitted: “This is technically possible, but is not likely to happen.” The process is much more complicated than most people thought, said Coats at a security conference in the U.S. state of Colorado. Trump himself had recently declared the negotiations for the denuclearisation, there is “no hurry” and “no time limit”.
A high share of the shadow economy
North Korea hits it especially hard, that the UN security Council adopted sanctions are also supported by China. The people’s Republic’s ally and largest trading partner of North Korea. But the Beijing government suspended the purchase of coal and dampened so that North Korea’s main source of revenue for the Export. “This year it will be much worse,” said Kim Byeong Yeon, a North Korea expert and a Professor of Economics at Seoul National University. “The shrinking trade hits first, the Kim Regime and top officials, and then later on unofficial markets.” On North Korea’s black market, about 60 percent of the economy accounts for an estimated force.
The total trade volume of China with North Korea has decreased, according to data from the Chinese customs in the first half of 2018 within a year’s time by almost 60 percent. North Korea’s Per-capita income is, according to BOK data, about 4.4 percent of that of South Korea. The total exports from North Korea be like in 2017 by 37 percent since 1998.
tko/ul (rtr,dpa)