China and North Korea's trade is expected to achieve its first growth in two years in 2025

(Dalian News) Previously, relations between China and North Korea had become tense due to military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. However, as relations between the two countries improved, China-North Korea trade achieved its first growth in two years in 2025.

The Nikkei News reported on Monday (January 19th) that data from the General Administration of Customs of China showed that the total trade volume between China and North Korea in 2025 increased by 26% year-on-year, reaching 2.73 billion US dollars. The trade volume in each month of 2025 saw year-on-year growth, while in 2024, there were 11 months with a decline. The trade volume between China and North Korea has now recovered to the level before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. China's exports to North Korea increased by 25% year-on-year to nearly 2.3 billion US dollars, while imports from North Korea rose by 27% to over 400 million US dollars.

From the perspective of the types of goods exported to North Korea, there has been a significant increase in medical products. From January to November, the export volume of optical microscopes increased by 30 times, while medical equipment such as operating tables and examination tables increased by 19 times; the export volume of radiation equipment such as X-ray machines increased by more than four times. This was mainly due to the fact that North Korea built several large hospitals in Pyongyang and other cities last year.

The report indicates that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, trade between China and North Korea experienced a significant decline from 2020 to 2022. The trade basically returned to normal in the second half of 2023, but it declined again in 2024, even though that year marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Experts speculate that the increasingly close relationship between North Korea and Russia is the reason for this phenomenon.

However, the relations between China and North Korea strengthened in 2025. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited China in September, which was his first visit to China in six and a half years.