After a long delay, the five known North Korean insurance companies have uploaded their financial data for 2020, providing some insights into how the country’s economy developed during the first year of the pandemic.

While the economy declined, the numbers suggest less of a recession than many have assumed given the sharp drop in trade due to Pyongyang’s strict COVID-19 border controls. And while the insurance market and its profits shrank overall, smaller companies still managed to grow their market share, pointing to a trend of customers favoring smaller but more innovative companies.

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