North Korea's fresh investment in China dropped to a record low last year, while Chinese investment arriving in the communist North also shrank for a third consecutive year amid increased international sanctions against Pyongyang, a report showed Monday.
According to the report from the Korea International Trade Association, fresh North Korean investment in China came to $70,000 in 2015.
The report was based on related data from China's statistics office, KITA said. The 2015 tally marked the lowest level since the Chinese office began compiling such data in 1997, it noted.
North Korea's investment in China peaked at $11.22 million in 2010, but has since been on a steady decline, falling to $2.68 million in 2013 and $290,000 the following year.
China's statistics office has yet to release figures for this year, but the KITA report suggested cross border investment between the two communist allies may have further shrunk this year following a series of international sanctions against the North for its military provocations that included two nuclear tests.
China's investment in North Korea is also on the wane.
Fresh Chinese investment in the North peaked at $109.46 million in 2012 but dipped to $86.2 million in 2013, and again to $51.94 million in 2014 and $41.21 million last year.
"Chinese companies had mostly invested in North Korea's natural resources, including coal, but China is currently facing an oversupply of coal, while global prices of natural resources continue to slip," the report said. (Yonhap)
