The Ministry of External Economic Relations is

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

's foreign trade ministry. The ministry's headquarters are at

Kim Il-sung Square __NOTOC__ Kim Il-sung Square is a large city square in the Central District of Pyongyang, North Korea, and is named after the country's founding leader, Kim Il-sung. The square was constructed in 1954 according to a master plan for reconstructing ...

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

. The current minister is

Kim Yong-jae Kim Yong-jae ( or ; born 7 September 1952) is a North Korean diplomat and politician. He was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation. He is currently the North Korea ...

and the vice minister O Ryong-chol. The ministry was established in 2014 when its predecessor, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, fused with the Joint Venture Investment Committee and the State Economic Development Commission to revive the ministry that had been marred by economic

sanctions against North Korea A number of countries and international bodies have imposed sanctions against North Korea. Currently, many sanctions are concerned with North Korea's nuclear weapons program and were imposed after its first nuclear test in 2006. The United St ...

History

The Ministry of Foreign Trade was newly established in September 1998 following the adoption of the new 1998 " Kim Il-sung Constitution". It initially oversaw all international economic activities. Some of its tasks were delegated to two organizations founded in 2010 and 2013, respectively: The Joint Venture Investment Committee (JVIC) was established to handle foreign investment and the State Economic Development Commission (SEDC) to manage the

Special Economic Zones of North Korea Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...

. Gradually, because of

, the Foreign Trade Ministry became inoperable. Between 2008 and 2016

Ri Ryong-nam Ri Ryong-nam ( ko, 리룡남, born August 8, 1960) is a politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, serving as the DPRK's Ambassador to China since February 2021. With a background in economic affairs, Ri was a delegate to the 12th, ...

served as the minister. In 2012, prominent portraits of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

were removed from the facade of the ministry on

, which observers took for indirect signs of change brought about by the leadership of

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...

. The present ministry was created on 8 June 2014 when the Ministry of Foreign Trade fused with the JVIC, and SEDC. All three constituent organizations had been affiliates in the

Cabinet of North Korea The Cabinet of North Korea (''Naegak'') is, according to the Constitution of North Korea, the administrative and executive body and a general state-management organ in the Government of North Korea. The Cabinet's principal newspaper is ''Minju C ...

. It is likely that they had much overlap in their tasks. According to the

Institute for Far Eastern Studies An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

: "the creation of this new Cabinet-affiliated ministry can be interpreted as an attempt to reach a breakthrough in North Korea's stagnating international economic cooperation ... a measure taken to increase the efficiency of decision-making and implementation of foreign trade-related issues, and to put an end to the confusion and inefficient inter-competition that arose out of the creation of these additional agencies".Alt URL
/ref> The ministry opened a website in October 2018. According to

Martyn Wililams Martyn may refer to: *Martyn (surname), one of the Tribes of Galway and others *Martyn (given name) See also *Martin (disambiguation) *Marten (disambiguation) A marten is a mammal in the family ''Mustelidae''. Marten, Mårten, or Martén may also ...

North Korea Tech North Korea Tech is a US-based blog authored by British journalist Martyn Williams which covers consumer electronics and technology developments in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It was established in 2010. North Korea Tech is based in ...

, the website came "at an interesting time as Kim Jong Un has pegged economic development as a major goal for the country, as South Korean companies are weighing projects that could help relations between the two Koreas but as the international community has some of the strictest sanctions ever on the country".

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, North Korea, Politics Cabinet of North Korea Trade ministries