This week's "Trade Fact of the Week" from the Progressive Policy Institute is about the North Korean economy: South Korea-North Korea Trade Topped $1 Billion Last Year .
Are the North Koreans thinking about opening up their economy somewhat more?
Making a rare trip to China last month, North Korean President Kim Jong-il took time out for a tour of the tech labs and factories of the Pearl River Delta. South Korea's Unification Ministry, thinking about the implications of this side trip, notes that Kim, having visited Guangzhou, Zhuhai, and Shenzhen, "stated that he was greatly impressed by several special economic zones in China which are making a lot of contributions to the construction of Chinese style socialism." The Ministry speculates that "his remarks hinted at his determination to accelerate North Korea's reform and opening through the expansion of special economic zones."
North Korean trade is limited now:
Estimates of North Korea's trade are usually somewhere below $5 billion a year -- comparable to the totals for much smaller countries like Haiti, Fiji, Malta, or Mozambique, or to three days' worth of South Korean trade.
Although the North Korean population (about 22 million) is about half that of South Korea (about 48 million).
Trade is limited, even after factoring in the illegal component:
North Korea's $4 billion or so in legal trade does not include a well-publicized series of black-market operations and weapons sales. Press estimates place the value of sales of narcotics, missiles, and counterfeit consumer goods at about $1 billion a year, or a third of the country's legal trade. North Korean ships have been found delivering heroin to Australia and methamphetamines to Japan -- about one-third of the methamphetamines on the Japanese market are said to come from North Korean labs -- and in 2004 The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. military sources, estimated $560 million in revenue from missile sales. Other lines of business are said to include counterfeit money, cigarettes, and Viagra.
Lots of useful links on the North Korean economy.
Originally posted at Ben Muse as North Korean Trade (Feb 2, 2006)
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