North Korean Trade With China Shrank By Half In 2018

SCMP: North Korean trade with biggest partner China dives 48 per cent amid sanctions

* Reliance on communist neighbour takes overall foreign trade volume below US$3 billion for first time since Kim Jong-un took power, according to report
* Observers say slow economic growth could weaken regime in the long run, but Beijing is expected to keep UN measures in place for now

North Korea’s trade with China has again fallen sharply, taking the country’s overall foreign trade volume below US$3 billion for the first time since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011.

Trade with China totalled US$2.7 billion in 2018, down 48.2 per cent from a year earlier, according to a report from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency on Friday.

But according to the report, “North Korea’s Foreign Trade Trend in 2018”, the country’s trade reliance on its communist neighbour reached a record high last year.

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Update #1: N. Korea's 2018 trade shrank by half compared to 2017: trade agency (Arirang)
Update #2: Sanctions halve North Korea's 2018 trade (Korea Times)

WNU editor: If these numbers are true, China is indeed putting the "screws" to North Korea.