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Kristin Huang

China’s exports of chocolate and alcohol to North Korea surged in the first two quarters of the year, which analysts say indicates the economy of the reclusive state is doing better than expected.
The communist nation last year notched up its strongest economic growth in 17 years. Its per capita gross national income is only about 5 per cent of South Korea’s, but a series of economic reforms launched by Kim Jong-un giving more recognition to the market economy have boosted the nation’s development.
North Korea has traditionally been reliant on China for essentials such as food, especially staples, but Chinese customs data has revealed that its demand for other food items is on the rise.
US demands China take ‘direct action’ after North Korea fires another missile over Japan
China exported 93.8 tonnes of chocolate – worth US$253,583 – to North Korea in the first quarter of 2016, according to the official figures.
But in the first quarter this year, it went up 1.8 times to 167.9 tonnes of chocolate – worth US$397,708.
A thirst for beer was also shown in the data, with the export volume at 3.4 million litres in the first half of 2016 – worth US$1.6 million.
That increased to 12 million litres in the first half of this year – with a value of US$5.23 million.

Exports of strong liquor, with 80 per cent alcohol or above, also increased sharply – from 4 million litres in the first half of 2016, valued at US$2.52 million, to 15.6 million litres in the first half of this year, worth US$7.54 million.
US should ‘do its duty’ to resolve North Korea nuclear crisis, says China
Analysts said that despite the United Nations Security Council imposing tougher sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme, the regime was continuing with its testing – and it was also continuing to develop economically under reforms brought in by Kim.
North Korea fired another intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan before landing in the northern Pacific Ocean on Friday, after its sixth nuclear test triggered a new round of UN sanctions on Monday.
The nation’s economy grew in 2016 at the fastest pace since 1999, with gross domestic product expanding 3.9 per cent from the previous year, helped by its recovery from a drought in 2015, according to an estimate from the Bank of Korea in July.
Although military spending – including on testing nuclear weapons and missiles – has raised tensions in the region, it has also helped to boost growth as component manufacturing is included in the calculation, the report said.

Soon after Kim took power in 2014, Pyongyang began a programme to invigorate its economy by giving more control and personal rewards to key sectors of the workforce. Some of the measures included giving managers the power to set salaries and fire employees.
Some state-run and state-owned farms have reportedly been disbanded in recent years, while family farms have become the nation’s major agricultural production unit.
Tens of thousands of new homes were built in 2016, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency reported in December.
North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests defy the US, the cold war’s end, and simple solutions
Sun Xingjie, a Korean affairs expert at Jilin University, said the North’s GDP growth suggested its economic reform policies were slowly having an effect.
“Kim has reportedly enforced some reforms to make the economy more market-driven, and the growth in GDP is a reflection that his policies are really starting to work – although we don’t have the concrete details,” he said. “The planned economy in North Korea has loosened and every individual has been encouraged to some extent to follow the market needs.”
Lee Kyu-tae, a geopolitical analyst at South Korea’s Catholic Kwandong University, echoed Sun’s view, saying the developing free market was the main economic driver.
“The government has introduced some economic reforms and selling is now freer than before – and that has become the catalyst driving economic development,” Lee said.


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Shoppers browse local and Chinese snacks on sale at the Potonggang department store in Pyongyang in June. Photo: AP

FILE - In this March 17, 2016, file photo, loaded trucks and vehicles wait in line at the border checkpoint before crossing the Friendship Bridge linking China and North Korea across the Yalu River, as seen from Dandong in northeastern China's Liaoning Province. China has long been the North’s main trading partner and diplomatic protector. But Kim Jong Un’s nuclear and missile tests have alienated Chinese leaders, who supported last month’s U.N. sanctions that slash North Korean revenue by banning sales of coal and iron ore. Beijing tried to head off the latest nuclear test, conducted Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, by warning Pyongyang that such an event would lead to even more painful penalties. (Chinatopix via AP, File)

In this Monday, June 19, 2017, photo, staff at the Potonggang department store stock shelves with local and imported snacks, mostly from China, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Three generations into Kim Jong Un's ruling dynasty, markets have blossomed and a consumer culture is taking root. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Chinese bank ban ‘threatens to tighten chokehold’ on trade with North Korea

A visitor in Jilin province on the border with North Korea. Banks in the area are reportedly stopping North Koreans from sending remittances. Photo: AP

Buildings in North Korea are seen from the Chinese border town of Tumen in eastern China's Jilin province Monday, Sept. 4, 2017. On Sunday, North Korea claimed a "perfect success" for its most powerful nuclear test so far, a further step in the development of weapons capable of striking anywhere in the United States. (Minoru Iwasaki/Kyodo News via AP)

US should 'do its duty' to resolve North Korea nuclear crisis, China says

Pedestrians walk under a huge monitor displaying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on a TV news broadcast in Tokyo, Japan on Friday. Earlier in the day, Pyongyang launched a ballistic missile over Japan that reportedly crashed in the Pacific Ocean. Photo: EPA

US demands China take ‘direct action’ after North Korea fires another missile over Japan

The 3,700km distance travelled by the missile – far beyond last month’s launch – would have put the US island territory of Guam within reach, if it had been on a different trajectory

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, center, arrives at prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Friday morning, Sept. 15, 2017 following a report of North Korean missile launch. South Korea's military said North Korea fired an unidentified missile Friday from its capital Pyongyang that flew over Japan before landing in the northern Pacific Ocean. (Saki Tsukada/Kyodo News via AP)

File photo from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) taken on August 29, 2017 and released on August 30, 2017 shows North Korea's intermediate-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 lifting off from the launching pad at an undisclosed location near Pyongyang. Photo: KCNA via AFP

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Chinese customs data shows increased demand from the reclusive state for chocolate and alcohol


North Korea nuclear crisis