SEOUL - North Korea's economy is estimated to have grown 3.5 percent in 2025 from a year earlier, South Korea's central bank said Friday.
The Bank of Korea said the North is believed to have achieved growth in the 3 percent range for the third straight year, supported by increased weapons exports to Russia.
According to Yonhap News Agency, North Korea's gross domestic product last year appears to have surpassed its level in 2017, when U.N. economic sanctions began to intensify. Foreign currency income from its troop dispatch to Russia also apparently surged.
South Korea's central bank said manufacturing grew 6.6 percent, with both light industry and heavy and chemical industries expanding. Construction rose 6.3 percent, mainly buoyed by nonresidential buildings.
Agriculture, forestry and fisheries grew 3.6 percent on the back of favorable weather, in a turnaround from a contraction the previous year, the central bank said.
North Korea's total exports and imports in 2025 climbed 16 percent from the previous year to $3.13 billion. Its per capita gross national income was 1.9 million won, about one twenty-eighth of South Korea's.
