North's sugar imports from China reach highest-ever level as Kim looks to sweeten national sentiment
Published: 18 Dec. 2025, 14:31
Updated: 18 Dec. 2025, 19:02
![Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Sept. 4. [REUTERS/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/18/e0f6954d-4dd3-41ca-8477-97a286815593.jpg)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Sept. 4. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
The volume of sugar shipped to North Korea from China reached its highest level ever after North's leader Kim Jong-un met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in September, raising the possibility that Kim requested the staple food in his attempts to stabilize his regime.
Kim visited China on Sept. 3 on China’s Victory Day, which commemorates victory in World War II. Sugar, along with rice, serves as one of Kim’s key tools for maintaining the regime, which adds weight to the possibility that Kim may have asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to increase export volumes during their summit.
Data from China’s General Administration of Customs show that the amount of sugar flowing from China into North Korea jumped 4.6-fold from August to September this year, from 2,729 tons to 12,601 tons, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Unification on Wednesday. In value terms, the shipments amounted to $1.5 million in August and $7.2 million in September.
Sugar shipped from China to the North continued in October, totaling 5,507 tons worth around $3.1 million. In September and October alone, North Korea imported 18,108 tons of sugar, valued at about $10.3 million.
The sharp increase in sugar trade immediately after Kim’s trip to China suggests that a high-level agreement may have played a role.
“North Korea’s sugar imports from China in September marked the highest monthly level this year,” said a Unification Ministry official. “We found no evidence that China provided sugar to North Korea as free aid during the same period.”
The trend also appears to align with past practices in which Kim distributed sugar and grain to residents during periods requiring regime propaganda, such as the ruling Workers’ Party congresses or the year-end season.
![North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, holds hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their talks in Beijing on Sept. 4, in photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency photo on Sept. 5. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/18/36043be2-c6a9-4826-a711-3aedb1b65297.jpg)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, holds hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their talks in Beijing on Sept. 4, in photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency photo on Sept. 5. [YONHAP]
“North Korea’s light industry, including processed food and consumer goods, remains weak,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies. “The country’s sugar production capacity is extremely limited, which has led the party to use sugar and sweets as tools of governance to induce loyalty to the regime.”
October marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party, and the Ninth Party Congress is expected around January or February next year.
The large-scale procurement of sugar may be aimed at stockpiling supplies for those events. Authorities may also use it to prevent public discontent among families of soldiers wounded or killed in deployments to Russia.
“North Korea may have first asked China to expand sugar imports, with party anniversary events this year,” said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
Although cooperation between North Korea and Russia has accelerated recently, Russia’s export controls on essential goods such as sugar due to the war in Ukraine may also have contributed to the increase in imports from China.
Meanwhile, Kim paid his respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang on Wednesday to mark the 14th anniversary of the death of his father, former leader Kim Jong-il, who died on Dec. 17, 2011, according to the Rodong Sinmun.
BY LEE YU-JUNG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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