China's trade with North Korea in 2022 recovered to roughly 37 percent of the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, government data showed Wednesday, with a freight train operation resumed between border cities despite the North keeping its borders shut to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
In 2022, the total value of China's trade with North Korea jumped 3.2-fold from the previous year to $1,027.72 million.
In 2021, bilateral trade had plummeted around 90 percent from 2019 to the lowest level since Kim Jong Un became the nation's supreme leader following the death of his father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, in December 2011.
Pyongyang stopped land transportation to and from China in September 2020.
A freight train service between China's Dandong and the North's Sinuiju resumed in January last year but was suspended three months later amid a COVID-19 outbreak in the Chinese border city. The operation fully restarted last September.
China is North Korea's closest and most influential ally in economic terms. While the freight train service was suspended, Pyongyang apparently imported goods from China by ship only.
