Trump, UN sanctions and North Korea's economy

President Trump is meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday in Vietnam, where the U.S. president is using the prospect of economic prosperity as a bargaining chip for cooperation.

In a tweet fired off on Wednesday morning, the U.S. president said if Kim would work toward denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, North Korea’s economy – burdened by economic sanctions – could flourish “very quickly.”

Ahead of duo’s second summit, Trump said sanctions remain “on in full” as part of a U.S.-led campaign of “maximum pressure,” which has prevented companies and foreign governments from making official investments in the country.

In another tweet on Sunday, Trump said Kim realizes that “without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers” of the world.

While knowing the exact impact of sanctions is difficult, since official data readings from North Korea are rare and tend to be unreliable – here’s a look at some of what we know about Pyongyang’s economy.

Recent estimates of GDP in North Korea – based on purchasing power parity – clock in at about $40 billion for 2015. South Korea’s central bank estimates Pyongyang had a gross national income of $34.5 trillion South Korean won, or $30 billion, during the same year.

According to South Korea’s estimates, in 2017 North Korea’s economy contracted by 3.5 percent, which would be the largest decline since the late 1990s.

GDP per capita is estimated at $1,700. North Korea allocates about 22 percent of its gross domestic product toward military spending.

North Korea has faced sanctions from both the U.S. and the United Nations Security Council imposed on just about every sector of its economy. Stricter sanctions began to be implemented around 2017.

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China, while alleging that it is following along with U.N. sanctions, continues to help prop up the North Korean economy, accounting for 90 percent of Pyongyang’s trading activity. Nearly 25 percent of North Korea’s exports are coal, and nearly all of those resources are shipped to Beijing.

President Trump and Kim Jong-un will meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi.