North Korea’s economy in 2020 posted its sharpest drop since a deadly famine in the 1990s due to the coronavirus, natural disasters and international sanctions that have hit Kim Jong Un’s already struggling state.
Gross domestic product contracted 4.5% in 2020 in the sharpest fall since 1997, according to estimates from South Korea’s central bank, which for years has provided the best available accounting of the economic activity of the secretive state.
The report shows that North Korea’s economy shrank last year to its smallest size Kim took over in late 2011. Gross domestic product fell to 31.4 trillion won ($27.4 billion), down from 33.8 trillion won in Kim’s first year at the helm, according to the South Korean central bank data released Friday.