N.Korea-U.S. Trade at a Standstill

Not a single trade has been conducted between North Korea and the U.S. for nine months from November last year to July this year.

According to the trade statistics released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday, the U.S. continued its trade with North Korea until October 2005 when it began to impose financial sanctions on Banco Delta Asia in Macau. However, considering the fact that the October trade figure includes trade items whose negotiations have ended by September, the U.S.-North Korea trade seems to have stopped in effect since October when the six-party talks over North Korea’s nuclear issue went into a stalemate.

Although the trade volume is insignificant, it had been on the rise since the 1994 Geneva Agreement between the two countries, after which the U.S. eased embargo on North Korean exports to the country.

When bilateral trade began in 1994, it was worth $179,730 and soared to $11.3 million in 1999, but afterwards began falling to $2.7 million in 2000 and to $700,000 in 2001. In 2002, the trade hit the record high of $25 million, and stood at $5.8 million last year for the period between January and October.