North Korea and China hold an opening ceremony for the New Yalu River Bridge on Oct. 15 in footage carried by the state-run Korean Central Television on Oct. 16.YONHAP
Trade between North Korea and China reached $2.27 billion in the first nine months of this year, its highest level since the Covid-19 border lockdowns.
The recent opening of the New Yalu River Bridge — connecting the key trading hubs of Sinuiju in North Korea and Dandong in China — has raised expectations of greater cross-border trade and more frequent people-to-people exchanges.
Bilateral trade from January through September rose sharply to $2.27 billion from $1.9 billion during the same period last year, U.S.-based North Korea-focused news site NK News reported Monday, citing data from China's General Administration of Customs.
China's exports to North Korea increased 12.1 percent to $1.79 billion over the same period, while imports from the North surged 50.4 percent to $483.57 million.
Monthly trade also climbed to $299 million in September, up 25.6 percent from $238 million in August. The September figure was the second-highest monthly total this year, behind only April's $326 million.
Experts attribute the rise in bilateral trade to North Korea's increased imports from China and growing exports of light industrial products, including wigs and fake eyelashes, which are not subject to international sanctions.
North Korea and China hold an opening ceremony for the New Yalu River Bridge on Oct. 15 in footage carried by the state-run Korean Central Television on Oct. 16.YONHAP
North Korea imports human hair from China, processes it into wigs and ships the finished products back across the border as part of an active processing trade.
Bilateral trade has risen steadily since Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the North in June. Still, it remains far short of the $4 billion recorded between January and September 2017, when bilateral trade peaked.
Trade plunged after the United Nations Security Council imposed a series of sweeping sanctions on the regime in the second half of 2017 in response to its advancing nuclear and missile programs. It fell further when Pyongyang sealed its borders to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“Beijing previously took a cautious approach to trade with Pyongyang as it sought to cultivate an image as a responsible major power," Oh Gyeong-seob, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said.
"But as its strategic rivalry with the United States has intensified, China has placed greater emphasis on cooperation with North Korea. The opening of the New Yalu River Bridge, which connects major overland trade hubs, is likely to further boost trade and people-to-people exchanges between North Korea and China for some time."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
