SEOUL: North Korea’s closed economy rose last year at a slightly slower pace compared to 2013, South Korea’s central bank data showed yesterday, even as the United Nations toughened sanctions for its nuclear and missile programmes.
Trade in the impoverished country, under the iron rule of the Kim family for more than 60 years, stood at an all-time high since records were first kept in 1990.
North Korea does not release economic data. The Bank of Korea across the border is the only official government entity that provides estimates about the economic performance of the North. Despite the expanded output, North Korea’s economy and trade was just a fraction of industrial powerhouse South Korea, with a continued heavy reliance on China, its main benefactor.
The slower pace of growth also dimmed a high-profile policy of leader Kim Jong Un to bring prosperity and higher standard of living for its people with a massive construction drive.
North Korea is heavily sanctioned under UN resolutions, for its nuclear and missile tests dating back to 2006, and its ties with South Korea have been cut back sharply after Seoul suspended most commercial projects and aide since 2010. The Bank of Korea said in a statement that the secretive state’s gross domestic product rose 1.1 percent in 2013, compared to an annual 1.3 percent incline in 2012.
Reuters
