U.S.-N.K. trade at virtual standstill

North Korea nuclear issue significantly reduces commerce between two nations

The amount of trade between North Korea and the United States for the first nine months of this year - before the North's nuclear test - was US$3,000, said the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), based on data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"It is not too much to say that there was no trade between North Korea and the U.S.,'' said the KOTRA. According to the KOTRA, the U.S. department announced a ban on exporting luxury goods to North Korea on November 29, according to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, but this is not expected to have a serious effect on U.S. exports to the communist nation, because there is virtually no trade between the two countries. The US$3,000 was largely attributed to the U.S. exporting publications to the reclusive nation, he said. The U.S. did not export food to North Korea and it did not import any North Korean products.

The U.S. exported about US$150,000 worth of goods to North Korea in 2004 and about US$16,000 in 2005. The number of exports to North Korea permitted by the U.S. government reached a record high in 1997 following the 1994 Geneva Agreed Framework, which bettered relations between the two countries, but the number has gradually been in decline since then, the KOTRA said. Regarding this decrease, the KOTRA said, "It is probably because Washington significantly reduced economic aid to Pyongyang when it hit a snag with the North Korean nuclear issue.''

Please direct questions or comments to [[e-mail]]