October 24, 2002
The number of inter-Korean shipments on a one-way basis for the first nine months of the year totaled 1,087, down 9.4 percent from a year earlier, according to data released by the Ministry of Unification.
During the same period, the shipping volume between the two Koreas amounted to 483,947 tons, a gain of 1.1 percent over a year ago. The cumulative tonnage bound for the North was 390,049, up 6.6 percent, versus 93,898, down 16.6 percent, North to South.
Major items coming from the North were agricultural, forestry and fishery products, iron and steel, metal ware and textiles. North-bound goods were primarily fertilizer and other chemicals, rice and other agricultural products and fishery products, textiles to be used for materials for products under the processing-on-commission formula, and machinery.
The 9.4 percent fall in the number of trans-border shipments, despite an increase of 17.9 percent in value to $343 million in the year to September, was attributed to a decrease to 230 from 372 in the number of cruise ship voyages to Mt. Geumgang.
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