Inter-Korean trade drops 23 percent amid chilled ties

SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- Trade between South Korea and North Korea decreased 23.2 percent last month year-on-year apparently due to worsening ties between the two sides, a South Korean ministry said Sunday.

Inter-Korean trade volume totaled US$160 million in October, 23.2 percent down
from $210 million a year ago, according to the Unification Ministry, which
handles Seoul's policy on Pyongyang.
It was the first time that trade across the heavily-armed border recorded a
double-digit reduction on a yearly basis in recent months.
South Korean officials ascribed the decline to the economic slowdown in the South
and its worsening relations with the North.
"The reduction in inter-Korean trade volume appears to reflect the domestic
economic situation, including hikes in foreign exchange rates and the suspension
of tours to Mount Geumgang," a ministry official said.
South Koreans' daily tour program to the scenic mountain on North Korea's eastern
coast, once a major source of hard currency for the cash-strapped nation, came to
a halt following the July 11 killing of a female South Korean tourist by a North
Korean soldier there.
Tensions have been mounting since the launch of the conservative Lee Myung-bak
administration in February. Lee has insisted on reciprocity in inter-Korean
relations and rebuffed the so-called Sunshine Policy of his two liberal
predecessors, who favored engagement with the North.