FT: Pyongyang seeks to revive DPRK economy through cooperation with russia
Kyiv • UNN
North Korea is seeking to rebuild its economy through trade with russia, benefiting from russian supplies of food, raw materials, and petroleum products.
North Korea wants to use trade with russia to restore its economy. This is reported by UNN with reference to The Financial Times.
Details
The outlet notes that DPRK Defense Minister Sin Won Sik admitted that the economic situation in North Korea has "significantly improved." According to him, this happened due to russian supplies of food, raw materials and oil products.
According to the FT, relations between russian President Vladimir Putin and the leader of the DPRK have significantly strengthened since the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine.
The conflict in Ukraine has become a real success for North Korea... After several years of hardship for ordinary North Koreans during the coronavirus pandemic, Kim Jong-un seems to be intent on using some of the profits to improve living standards and expand the industrial base
Experts emphasized that the exact state of the North Korean economy cannot be measured in the absence of reliable official data. However, it is known that the DPRK is dependent on coal mining, concrete and industrial plastics production, and is kept afloat by food, fuel and fertilizers from neighboring China.
Analysts say that Kim Jong-un seems to be seeking to return to a situation similar to the Cold War, when Pyongyang could "take advantage of two patrons, not one.
By strengthening his economic partnership with russia while reducing his dependence on China, Kim Jong-un is renewing this strategy
Recall
A North Korean delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations visits Iran amid long-standing suspicions of cooperation between the two countries over ballistic missile programs and military ties.
