Special to WorldTribune.com

By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com

North Korea’s exports surged more than 84 percent last year to $2.79 billion on the back of bigger shipments of natural resources to China as Pyongyang seeks hard currency to finance its huge political gala events held earlier this year.

South Korea’s trade agency says North Korean exports in 2011 were the highest since the agency started following them in 1990.

Imports also jumped by nearly one-third from the previous year to $3.53 billion in 2011 due to increased purchases of Chinese oil, food and daily necessities.

North Korean farms and factories are near total collapse, the South’s state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) said.

With the brisk two-way exchange, the North’s external trade jumped more than 51 percent last year to a 22-year high of $6.32 billion, compared with $4.17 billion in 2010, $3.41 billion in 2009, and $3.82 billion in 2008.

Read complete article.

  farms and factories near total collapse, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, N. Korea selling off minerals to China in frantic bid for hard currency, North Korea exports highest since 1990