North and South Korea -- Page 8

Transportation in North Korea

Transportation. An extensive rail network links North Korea with China and also connects the country's major ports and cities. Road transportation is less well developed, but a major expressway connects Pyongyang with Kaesong. The Yalu and Taedong rivers are the principal waterways used for heavy freight, and an oil pipeline brings petroleum to North Korea from China's Taching oil field.

Trade in North Korea

The principal imports are petroleum, coking coal, machinery, transportation equipment, and wheat. The principal exports are rice, metals, cement, machinery, and chemicals. Efforts to develop trade with Sweden, Finland, and other Western nations in the 1970s resulted in major balance of payments problems, and North Korea was forced to default or defer payments on many of its Western purchases. Since 1990, after several years of renewed emphasis on economic self-reliance, the government has again sought to develop trade and technical links with capitalist countries such as Japan.

Trade in South Korea

The keystone of South Korea's growing prosperity is foreign trade. Exports have increased dramatically since the 1960s. South Korean trade with China, Russia, and the nations of Eastern Europe expanded dramatically after the late 1980s. Today, South Korean exports face increasing competition from other industrializing nations and is threatened by protectionist legislation in the United States and elsewhere.