World Business | Asia | Asia Business | North Korea

Economy - overview:
North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and spare parts shortages. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. The nation has suffered its eleventh year of food shortages because of a lack of arable land, collective farming, weather-related problems, and chronic shortages of fertilizer and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the regime to escape mass starvation since 1995, but the population remains the victim of prolonged malnutrition and deteriorating living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In July 2002, the government took limited steps toward a freer market economy. In 2004, heightened political tensions with key donor countries and general donor fatigue threatened the flow of desperately needed food aid and fuel aid. Black market prices have continued to rise following the increase in official prices and wages in the summer of 2002, leaving some vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and unemployed, less able to buy goods. In 2004, the regime allowed private markets to sell a wider range of goods and permitted private farming on an experimental basis in an effort to boost agricultural output. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will constrain any further loosening of economic regulations.
 

Agriculture - Products
rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs

Airlines
Airlines in Asia
Airlines Worldwide

Airports
Airports in Asia
Airports Worldwide

Country Budget
revenues: NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA

Currency (code): North Korean won (KPW)

Currency Exchange Rates
official: North Korean won per US dollar - 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), 2.15 (December 2001); market: North Korean won per US dollar - 300-600 (December 2002)

Fiscal Year: calendar year

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
GDP (purchasing power parity):  $40 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:  1% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita:  purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 30.2%
industry: 33.8%
services: 36% (2002 est.)

Imports / Exports
Exports: $1.2 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities: minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments); textiles and fishery products
Exports - partners: China 29.9%, South Korea 24.1%, Japan 13.2% (2004)

Imports: $2.1 billion c.i.f. (2003)
Imports - commodities: petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment; textiles, grain
Imports - partners: China 32.9%, Thailand 10.7%, Japan 4.8% (2004)

Industries
military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism

Investing
Forex, Foreign Exchange Market: Currency Trading

Labor Force & Unemployment Rate
Labor force:  9.6 million
Labor force - by occupation:  agricultural 36%, nonagricultural 64%