Posted on 08/16/2007 1:53:11 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
North Korea's Economy Shrank in 2006
Thursday August 16, 4:36 am ET
By Kelly Olsen, AP Business Writer
North Korea's Economy Shrank in 2006 Amid Nuclear Tensions
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea's economy shrank for the first time in eight years in 2006 amid an international nuclear standoff, energy shortages and falling farm output, South Korea's central bank said Thursday.
The contraction represented a sharp turnaround from 2005 when the North's gross domestic product was estimated to have risen 3.8 percent, the Bank of Korea said in a report.
"Difficulties are presumed to have persisted in North Korea's overall economy during 2006 due to worsening relations with the international community as a result of the nuclear issue and energy shortages," the bank said in a report.
The Bank of Korea also cited decreased agriculture, forestry and fisheries production and weakness in the construction industry for the poor economic performance.
The bank has published estimates of North Korea's economy since 1991. Gauging the extent of economic activity is difficult as the secretive country publishes no economic statistics.
A long-brewing international standoff over North Korea's nuclear program peaked in 2006 when the impoverished country carrying out its first test blast of an atomic weapon in an underground explosion in October.
Tensions cooled this year after North Korea shut down its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor and implemented other commitments it made with regional powers and the United States in exchange for aid and improved relations.
Concerns over North Korea's economy have intensified in recent days because of heavy rains and flooding the country says have resulted in numerous deaths and serious damage to rice and corn fields.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, who will visit North Korea later this month for only the second ever summit between the two long-divided countries, reiterated Wednesday his idea of forging an economic community on the divided peninsula when he visits Pyongyang for talks with leader Kim Jong Il.
The two countries have taken divergent political and economic paths since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Capitalist South Korea, a free-market powerhouse, has risen to become the world's 12th-largest economy. North Korea's Soviet-style command economy, meanwhile, has languished.
In recent years, North Korea has introduced limited market reforms to try and raise living standards and has encouraged foreign investment, mostly from China and South Korea.
The Bank of Korea estimated the size of North Korea's economy at about US$25.6 billion in 2006, or just 1/35th that of South Korea's, which it said stood at US$887.3 billion.
The North's per capita gross domestic income was US$1,108 in 2006 compared with US$18,372 in South Korea, the bank said. Economic disparity between the two countries expanded from the previous year, the bank said.
Associated Press Writer Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
Ping!
Well, we better give them 50,000 tons of oil. S. Korea should give them 5 million tons of wheat. EU should give them a nuclear reactor.
yitbos
yitbos
this is united nations economics at its finest.
Thanks for the ping.
They still have economy in NK?
WHO knew?
I sure didn’t. I guess its a secret juche style economy.
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