21 Jul 17. North Korea 2016 economic growth at 17-year high despite sanctions: South Korea. North Korea’s economy grew at its fastest pace in 17 years in 2016, South Korea’s central bank said on Friday, despite the isolated country facing international sanctions aimed at curbing its defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Gross domestic product (GDP) in North Korea last year rose 3.9 percent from the previous year when the economy contracted due to a drought and low commodity prices, the Bank of Korea said. The expansion, driven by mining and energy, marked the biggest rise since a 6.1 percent gain in 1999.
North Korea, which counts China as its biggest trading partner, also boosted exports by 4.6 percent, the most since an 11.8 percent jump in 2013. Still, the isolated state’s per capita gross national income in 2016 was just 1.5m won ($1,342), less than 5 percent of the comparable number in South Korea. North Korea does not publish economic data. The Bank of Korea has released GDP data on North Korea every year since 1991 based on information from government agencies including South Korea’s Ministry of Unification and the National Intelligence Service. The estimate is widely used by international organizations and researchers.
North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the Security Council has ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear tests and two long-range missile launches.
Missiles Likely Boosted Output
The robust economic growth may partly be due to the North’s active nuclear and missile development program, as the manufacture of components is included when calculating GDP growth, according to Shin Seung-cheol, an official at the BOK.
Shin added North Korea had boosted electricity production in 2016 but could not confirm whether this was linked to missile manufacturing.
In February, China banned all imports of coal from its reclusive neighbor, cutting off its most important export. China is also restricting the flow of oil into the North.
The United States is mulling new sanctions on Chinese firms and bank doing business with Pyongyang on top of trying to get China and Russia to back a new U.N. Security Council resolution imposing stiffer sanctions on North Korea following its latest missile test.
In 2016, China accounted for 92.5 percent of all North Korean trade, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) on Friday. (Source: glstrade.com/Reuters)
21 Jul 17. U.S. presses Myanmar to cease military ties with North Korea. Myanmar’s military has maintained ties with North Korea, even though the civilian-led government denies any cooperation, and the Trump administration is pressing for a complete break-off of remaining links, current and former U.S. officials said.
Washington made its case to Myanmar’s de facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing during a visit to the country this week by the U.S. special envoy for North Korea.
U.S. Ambassador Joseph Yun’s trip to Myanmar underlined continuing U.S. worries over North Korean links that date back to Myanmar’s decades of military rule, according to a senior State Department official on Friday.
“It was an opportunity to message that any engagement with North Korea, particularly military engagement, is counterproductive to trying to end this threat that North Korea poses to the region and to the globe,” the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He declined to specify what kind of military cooperation had continued between North Korea and Myanmar.
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Myanmar’s embassy in Washington.
The official said U.S. sanctions levelled this year against the Myanmar army’s procurement body were meant to “reflect long-standing concerns” about the military’s dealings with Pyongyang.
Myanmar insists that arms deals and other militar