North Korea's economy grew 3.5% last year on deeper ties with Russia and China, Seoul says

North Korea's economy grew 3.5% in 2025, driven by increased trade with Russia and China, surpassing 2017 levels despite UN sanctions.

North Korea's economy grew 3.5% in 2025 ​on rising trade with Russia ​and China, marking a third consecutive ‌year ​of growth above 3%, according to estimates by South Korea's central bank released on Friday. That was slightly less ‌than a 3.7% expansion in 2024, but economic output for the secretive Communist state was estimated to have surpassed 2017 levels before U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang took full effect.

"The growth was ‌mainly due to expansion of economic cooperation between North Korea and Russia, along ‌with increased trade with China and the government's push on state-led development projects," a central bank official told a briefing. Export demand for North Korea's weapons lifted output across manufacturing's supply chain, the official said, ⁠while ​an increase in Russian ⁠tourists and expanded transport links boosted lodging, food service and transportation.

Income from North Korean laborers dispatched abroad ⁠and troops sent to support Russia's war effort also sharply increased foreign currency earnings. Pyongyang has deepened ​ties with both Moscow and Beijing. Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met Russian President ⁠Vladimir Putin in Moscow this month, and North Korea has also stepped up exchanges with China marking ⁠the ​65th anniversary of their friendship and mutual defense treaty.

Recent growth notwithstanding, North Korea's economy remains very small. Its nominal gross national income was estimated at 48.5 trillion won ($34 ⁠billion) last year, equivalent to 1.8% of the South's. South Korea's central bank has been ⁠publishing estimates of the ⁠North Korean economy since 1991, based on data from South Korea's intelligence and trade agencies in the absence of official statistics from ‌Pyongyang. ($1 = 1,432.6200 ‌won)