Trade between China and North Korea in 2025 increased more than 25 percent from the previous year. The growth apparently reflects strengthened ties on which the two countries’ leaders agreed in their meeting last fall.
Statistics released by Chinese customs authorities on Sunday show that the total shipments between the adjacent nations were worth more than 2.73 billion dollars. The figure recovered to the 2019 levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic.
Freight trains and trucks have been observed traveling over a bridge on the Chinese-North Korean border in Dandong, Liaoning Province, in northeastern China.
On the North Korean side of another bridge, which has remained shut for more than a decade, a new facility was under construction in an area believed to be used for customs procedures.
Some analysts pointed out that the relations between Beijing and Pyongyang became strained, as the North accelerates its military cooperation with Russia.
But Chinese President Xi Jinping met North Korea leader Kim Jong Un when Kim visited China in September last year, and the two agreed to strengthen bilateral ties across a wide range of fields.
Monthly trade between the two countries also trended upward after Kim’s visit.