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China's trade with North Korea rises about 50% in July amid food crisis
Last month, however, the total value of China's trade with North Korea plunged around 90 percent from July 2019, when their borders were open, according to the Chinese General Administration of Customs.
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A man walks on the Yalu River Broken Bridge, with the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge behind, in the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on February 23, 2019. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's train is expected to cross the Friendship Bridge on a journey across China before Kim's summit meeting with US President Donald Trump in Vietnam on February 27. (Agence France Presse/Greg Baker)
C
hina's trade with North Korea rose 48 percent from a month earlier to $20.92 million in July, the government said Wednesday, as the country under leader Kim Jong Un has been hit by a severe food crisis.
Last month, however, the total value of China's trade with North Korea plunged around 90 percent from July 2019, when their borders were open, according to the Chinese General Administration of Customs.
North Korea has cut off land traffic to and from its neighbors since early 2020 amid concern that the novel coronavirus, first detected in China's central city of Wuhan in late 2019, could intrude into the nation.
But North Korea, which has been suffering an economic slump, has apparently imported goods from China by ship recently, given that land transportation between the two countries has not been confirmed as Kim has been stepping up anti-epidemic measures.
Read also: North Korea faces worst food crisis in over decade: report to UN
At a ruling party meeting in June, meanwhile, Kim said the food situation in the nation was "getting tense," as North Korea's agricultural sector was devastated by powerful typhoons and flooding last year.
North Korea also said in a report to the United Nations this year that it had faced its worst food crisis in more than a decade, sparking fears that its citizens have encountered serious difficulties in obtaining daily essentials.
Beijing is known as Pyongyang's closest and most influential ally in economic terms. North Korea depends on China for over 90 percent of its trade.
