North Korea’s trading activity hit its lowest level in over three decades last year due to sanctions and COVID-19 control measures, according to a new report from a South Korean state-funded agency.

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) stated that North Korean trade volume shrunk to $863 million in 2020. That is the lowest since the agency began to record the figure in 1990 and around a quarter of the 2019 trade volume.

“It’s estimated that North Korea’s foreign currency reserves situation is worsening overall,” Lee Seung Soo, KOTRA’s South-North Korea economic cooperation project manager, told NK News. “With