In the wake of the landmark summit between North and South Korea in June, the Clinton administration has moved to lift fifty-year-old trade restrictions on North Korea. Substituted are revised rules which will enable North Korea to export raw materials and finished goods to the United States.
The new regulations willup air and shipping routes between both countries as U.S. companies will be able to sell non-military American goods and farm products to an impoverished North Korea. Investment restrictions on American firms have also been eased.
Although North Korea is one of the world's poorest and economically isolated countries (U.S. government estimates place its 1998 exports at $743 million compared to $133 billion in exports from South Korea), it has significant reserves of minerals from iron ore to copper and zinc.
Although any reunification plan between the two Koreas could take several years, trade cooperation could happen sooner, with commodities like auto parts being shipped from North to South Korea for assembly and export. Low-value goods like shoes could be shipped from North Korea direct to the U.S.
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