<p>As far back as the 1980s it seems that North Korea has imported more than it exported. Given that they weren’t exactly a wealthy country back then, and as most countries stopped debt financing transactions with the DPRK after the 1980s too, how have they managed so long in purchasing imports?</p>
<p>I understand there has been aid and other “freebies” in the intervening 30 years but it hardly can explain the entire difference.</p>
<p>The only answers I can think of is that somehow the DPRK government had billions of dollars sitting in overseas bank accounts and/or huge amounts of off-the-books loans were given somehow?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-17T21:21:07.907Z
"*...it hardly can explain the entire difference.*" Can you please support your claim with a reference?
Giskard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-18T00:44:27.810Z
@Giskard According to the OEC, https://oec.world/en/profile/country/prk/, North Korea had a trade deficit of $2.4 billion USD in 2019.
M. Y. Zuo
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-18T11:22:22.117Z
[How does North Korea finance a nuclear weapons program?](https://youtu.be/ib9Z7lublQE) (2021): *""Office 39" is a secret division of the government. Its goal is to obtain foreign currency by any means possible, providing Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian regime with financial resources. Drugs, counterfeit money, human trafficking, insurance fraud: nothing is off-limits for these North Korean gangsters. This documentary reveals their most spectacular schemes, and lays bare the sensational methods that have allowed the isolated country to circumvent UN sanctions and build up its nuclear program"*
Rodrigo de Azevedo
<macroeconomics><international-trade><government-debt><balance-of-trade>
How is North Korea paying for all its imports?
M. Y. Zuo
# How is North Korea paying for all its imports?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-01-17)

As far back as the 1980s it seems that North Korea has imported more than it exported. Given that they weren’t exactly a wealthy country back then, and as most countries stopped debt financing transactions with the DPRK after the 1980s too, how have they managed so long in purchasing imports?

I understand there has been aid and other “freebies” in the intervening 30 years but it hardly can explain the entire difference.

The only answers I can think of is that somehow the DPRK government had billions of dollars sitting in overseas bank accounts and/or huge amounts of off-the-books loans were given somehow?

**Tags:** macroeconomics, international-trade, government-debt, balance-of-trade

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: "*...it hardly can explain the entire difference.*" Can you please support your claim with a reference?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 According to the OEC, https://oec.world/en/profile/country/prk/, North Korea had a trade deficit of $2.4 billion USD in 2019.  
> **username_2**: [How does North Korea finance a nuclear weapons program?](https://youtu.be/ib9Z7lublQE) (2021): *""Office 39" is a secret division of the government. Its goal is to obtain foreign currency by any means possible, providing Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian regime with financial resources. Drugs, counterfeit money, human trafficking, insurance fraud: nothing is off-limits for these North Korean gangsters. This documentary reveals their most spectacular schemes, and lays bare the sensational methods that have allowed the isolated country to circumvent UN sanctions and build up its nuclear program"*  

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## 0 answers

