North Korea’s trade with China dropped 5 percent on-month in May due to a sharp decline in Pyongyang’s exports, Chinese customs data showed Monday.

North Korea’s trade volume with China stood at $189.57 million in May, down from $199.42 million in April, according to the data from China’s general Administration of Customs.

Pyongyang’s imports from China totalled $165.63 million in May, slightly down from $165.78 million the previous month, while its exports sharply dropped 30 percent on-month to $23.94 million.

It remains unclear why North Korea’s exports to China shrank last month.

During the January-May period, cumulative trade between the two countries stood at some $874.18 million, up 174 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

Cargo train operations between the Chinese border city of Dandong and the North’s Sinuiju resumed in September last year after a five-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/06/103_353230.html

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