Trade between North Korea and China shrank by 2.4% to about $7 billion last year over strained relations between Pyongyang and Beijing. Diplomatic tensions rose around the assumption of leadership in North Korea by Kim Jong-un after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, at the end of 2011. North Korea’s testing of a nuclear warhead in early 2013 and Kim’s execution of his pro-Chinese uncle and mentor, Jang Song-taek, in December that year alarmed Beijing. Chinese exports to North Korea were down 3.1% last year over 2013 and imports from North Korea were down 1.5%.
