SEOUL, July 26: South Korea says North Korea has suffered its worst economic contraction in more than 20 years due to international sanctions and bad weather.
The Seoul-based Bank of Korea said Friday that North Korea’s economy shrank 4.1% last year from a year earlier. A bank statement said it’s the North’s second straight year of contraction and the worst performance since 1997, when the economy was estimated to have shrunk 6.5% in 1997.
Diplomats from Washington, Seoul, Tokyo talk N. Korea threat
The bank says its estimates are based on information provided by various South Korean government agencies.
U.N. sanctions on North Korea were toughened after North Korea conducted high-profile nuclear and missile tests in recent years. Experts say bad weather conditions like a prolonged drought and a heat wave last year have devastated the North’s farm sector.
_20221030073345.jpeg)
