SouthKorea'sgrossnationalincome(GNI)stoodat$477billionin2002,28timeslargerthantheNorth's$17billion,showingthehugeeconomicdispar
South Korea's gross national income (GNI) stood at $477 billion in 2002, 28 times larger than the North's $17 billion, showing the huge economic disparity between the two Koreas.
At the same time, the proportion of males in the population is considerably higher in South Korea than in the North, a drastic change from the past, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said on Tuesday (Nov. 25).
In terms of the male-to-female ratio, the number of men per 100 women was 101.4 for the South and 96.5 for the North, indicating that males outnumbered females in the South while the opposite is true in the North.
NSO officials said the latest statistics had revealed that the male population had been continually increased following a sharp reduction caused by the Korean War in the early 1950s.
The economic gap between the two Koreas continues to expand as South Korea's total trade volume was 139 times larger than that of North Korea last year, up from 128.4 times in 2001.
The NSO said in a comparison report between the two koreas that trade volume stood at $314.6 billion for the South and $2.26 billion for the North.
In 1970 the trade gap for the South over the North was 3.8 times and grew to 11.5 in 1980, 32.3 in 1990 and peaked at 168 in 2000.
The South landed in the black again last year with 10.34 billion in gains while the North chalked up an $800 million deficit in trade. The South has recorded gains for the last four years but the North has registered some $300 million-$1 billion in losses each year since 1980.
The gap between the two Koreas' gross national incomes (GNI) also widened. The South's GNI stood at $477 billion in 2002, 28 times larger than the North's $17 billion. The difference increased from 10.9 times in 1990 to 21.9 times in 1995 and 27.1 times in 2001.
Per capita GNI for the South was $10,013, 13.1 times larger than the $762 of the North's.
However, both koreas recorded economic growth last year over 2001 with 6.3 percent for the South and 1.2 percent for the North. The figure for the former rose 3.2 percentage points while that for the latter slowed by 2.5 percentage points from a year ago.
Remarkably, the North has posted economic growth for four consecutive years.
In the manufacturing production index, calculated with the datum point of 1995 production as 100, the South was 167.9 in 2002, up 8.3 points from 2001. The index for the North, however, decreased for the first time in four years by 2 points to 81.5.
Although the South has transformed itself into a manufacturing and service industrial country with its farming industry accounting for just 4 percent of the economy, agriculture remained a key industry for the North at 30.2 percent.
With reconciliation efforts continuing over the past decade, inter-Korean trade surged 59 percent to $641.7 million last year, as $271.6 million worth of commodities moved from the North to the South and $370.1 million won headed the other way, up 54.2 percent and 63.2 percent from 2001, respectively.
Compared to the figures in 1990, trade volume jumped 48-fold while the influx and outflow soared 22-fold and 312-fold.
Increases were observed not only in trade of commodities and money but also in visits of people. A total of 12,825 South Koreans visited the North last year, up 50 percent from 8,551 in 2001. Since 1990, when exchanges between the two Koreas were initiated, a total of 48,342 people from South Korea have visited the North as of this August.
South Korea's population in 2002 was 47.64 million, 2.1 times more than the 22.37 million in the North. The combined population of 70 million was the 16th biggest in the world.
Source : www.korea.net
