The Chinese government has stopped providing trade data with North Korea in an apparent move to avoid criticism of its brisk commerce between the 2 countries.
China's General Administration of Customs, which issues trade data on other countries every month, released no statistics on North Korea for August and September.
In the past, China had routinely disclosed monthly trade statistics with North Korea, including data on commodities as well as imports and exports.
A Chinese official told NHK that China decided to release trade details with the Middle Eastern country of Oman, instead of North Korea, because Oman's trade value exceeded North Korea's.
However, the administration had previously released trade data between China and Oman, which had also exceeded that with North Korea.
Many nations are implementing sanctions against North Korea in line with UN resolutions related to its nuclear and missile development.
NHK's correspondent says China's move might be aimed at averting criticism that the Chinese-North Korean trade could provide a loophole in the sanctions.
2009/11/01 06:38(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)
http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/01_02.html
Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:08 pm