I was doing some research on North Korea's economy and incidentally found this one ! LOL

It looks like the Indians are sure doing some good business with the North Koreans ! LOL


http://www.nkeconwatch.com/category/countries/india/

Saturday, February 14th, 2009


The Bank of Korea, the Souths central bank and most cited source of DPRK economic statistics, estimates North Koreas gross exports (to all countries except South Korea) in 2006 and 2007 at $950 and $920 (USD in millions) respectively. They estimate the DPRKs imports in these years at $2,050 and $2,020 (USD in millions) respectively.

According to the data in this article, North Koreas exports to India ($161 million) are a non-trivial 17.5% of its total exports (assuming the 2007 number is approximately current and changes in inflation and exchange rates are trivial). The DPRKs imports from India, $850 million in 2008 (according to the article), are a whopping 42% of North Koreas estimated 2007 total imports. Either India is now one of the DPRKs major trading partners, or there was a short-term spike in DPRK-India trading activity, or these numbers are fishy.



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Let Noble Thoughts Come to Us from All Sides- RigVeda

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That number is definitely wrong. I know for sure China's trade with north korea was almost $3 billion last year (ie. more than the combined trade volume you quoted from the blog).

China (60% of volume) and South Korea has been north korea's top two largest trading partners for a decade (unless every analyst out there is wrong). Besides, north korea doesn't exactly have a developed trade route via shipping, so most of its trade is over land via rail, making it technically infeasible for India to account for 42% of its imports.


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#1 way to ascertain that you've lost an argument: Resorting to personal attacks.

lo1l1o1o1l Just another feel-good attempt by the indians....l1o1l1o1l1ol1

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Lol hawkssss, that's definitely not the case. The blog author was just being sarcastic (note he says "or these numbers are fishy."). He's actually drawing from two sources (one about north korea foreign trade and another reporting india trade with north korea) and joking about the 42% figure (ie. if both sources were correct) and the mistake in one of these sources.


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#1 way to ascertain that you've lost an argument: Resorting to personal attacks.

\\China (60% of volume) and South Korea has been north korea's top two largest trading partners for a decade\\


China and South Korea are definetely the biggest trading partners for the North which everyone are aware of. The real suprises are India and Brazil.Hardly anyone hears about their trade relations with the North Koreans.


http://www.wtop.com/?nid=385&sid=1695726

'TRADE: North Korea's top trade partners are China, South Korea, Singapore, India, Russia and Brazil. Japan once was a key partner but commercial ties rapidly deteriorated after Tokyo imposed sanctions and restrictions over the North's abductions of Japanese citizens, and its nuclear and missile tests.'


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'Besides, north korea doesn't exactly have a developed trade route via shipping, so most of its trade is over land via rail, making it technically infeasible for India to account for 42% of its imports'


South Korea invests a lot in North by setting up lot of factories and using cheap north korean labour. I would not discount the fact that the north Korea does a lot of trading with other countries via the South Korean route.


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\\The blog author was just being sarcastic\\


The author was anything but sarcastic. His question was as genuine as mine. ! He did not made up any numbers.He simply took the numbers from the reliable statistics wrt DPRk and deducted the imports from them as mentioned in another article.His 'sarcastic' comment like 'or numbers are fishy' can also be understood as an expression of disbelief !

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Let Noble Thoughts Come to Us from All Sides- RigVeda

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It did sound sarcastic, particularly this sentence "Either India is now one of the DPRKs major trading partners, or there was a short-term spike in DPRK-India trading activity, or these numbers are fishy."

Although, it's shouldn't be a surprise that India is a significant trading partner. The countries that have the most stake in enforcing the embargo are US, Europe, and Japan. India and Brazil could care less where north korea tests the missiles.

So back to the numbers. I have two theories. 1) I think the Indian trade with NK is reported in rupees. The reason is because the 3rd largest trader with NK is Singapore with ~3% or $120 million. 2) The exports are routed through south korean factories in joint ventures eventually sold to India.

But that doesn't explain the $800 million imports. North korea doesn't have a lot of money, so they mostly buy food and fuel. $800 million would be 30% of the total amount they bought from the outside world last year! Not saying India can't undercut chinese or south korean prices, but shipping that much food over sea is not cheap.


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#1 way to ascertain that you've lost an argument: Resorting to personal attacks.

Along with food and fabrics, NK also imports drugs, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and machinery from India and exports iron and steel.

http://www.mea.gov.in/foreignrelation/03fr02.pdf


'The major items exported from India to DPRK during 2004-2005 are oil meals
cotton yarn, fabrics, made-ups etc, other ores and minerals, drugs, pharmaceuticals
and fine chemicals, inorganic/organic/agro chemicals, petroleum products,
manufactures of metals electronic goods non-ferrous metals, machinery and
instruments, gems & jewellery, dyes/antidotes & coal tar chemicals, iron & steal
bar/rod etc., finished leather, chemical and allied products, primary & semi-finished
iron & steal and meat & preparations. The main items of import from DPRK are iron
and steel.'


'DPRK has expressed keen interest in importing consumer goods worth US$50
million from India every year on deferred payment basis. These items include
leather shoes, stockings, undergarments, school bags, bicycles, kitchen utensils, etc.
They also proposed barter trade by supplying items like steel, magnesia clinker zinc,
etc. in case deferred payment option is not acceptable to India.'



BTW, it looks like the Americans are also noticing the increasing trade relations with the Indians.


http://www.heritage.org/index/country/NorthKorea


'North Korea devotes a disproportionately large share of GDP to military spending, further exacerbating the country's already poor economic situation. Normal foreign trade is minimal, with China and South Korea being the most important trading partners. Trade with India is increasing.'





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Let Noble Thoughts Come to Us from All Sides- RigVeda

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