North Korea’s economy in 2017 turned in its worst performance in two decades, reported the Bank of Korea, giving new credence to the Trump administration’s claims that tough international sanctions helped drive Pyongyang to the bargaining table with Seoul and Washington.
After the U.S. pushed for tougher U.N Security Council’s sanctions, the North Korean GDP plummeted 3.5 percent in 2017, according to Korean media outlet Chosun Ilbo. The numbers have not been this low since the devastating 1997 famine that resulted in millions of deaths.
North Korea has pressed for an easing of sanctions as nuclear talks with the U.S. proceed, but Mr. Trump and his aides have insisted so far that the sanctions won’t be eased until the North fully gives up its nuclear and long-range missile programs. But there has been anecdotal evidence the North is trying to boost its international economy as the talks proceed.
The South Korean newspaper reported Monday that China and North Korea have teamed up to open a travel agency office in Taiwan to promote the North’s meager tourism traffic.
“Travel to North Korea is booming despite the continued [U.N.] sanctions,” a Korean Heritage International Travel Company representative said at a press conference last week. “The number of Chinese tourists jumped from about 100 a day before May to about 1,000 a day now.”
China is not the only country believed to be ignoring sanctions. South Korea has been accused of turning a blind-eye to economic restrictions in order to further its own interests.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with her U.S counterpart, National Security Adviser John R. Bolton, in New York City last week to discuss progress in the North Korean denuclearization drive, which caused some to speculate that Ms. Kang called for allowing more North-South trade and business investment at the meeting.
“[It was] not to ease sanctions, but to seek exemptions from sanctions needed for inter-Korean projects,” said Mr. Kang at a press conference.
The Korea Times reported that South Korea was already granted an exemption from the sanctions for the restoration of a military communication line on the divided Korean peninsula.
For the South, the next step is getting the go-ahead for another exemption for the opening of a joint liaison office in the North Korean city Gaeseong next month.
Though North Korean neighbors seem to be pushing for economic leniency, exports have fallen 37 percent since 2016, the Chosun Ilbo said.
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