The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has maintained developing foreign trade as an important requirement for consolidating the independence and strength of its economy and making it Juche-oriented, modern, IT-based and scientific.

Under the wise leadership of the great leader Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, foreign trade of the DPRK has been constantly developed.

The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung put forward ideas and theories on developing independent foreign trade and led sagaciously work for its implementation.

In Juche 38(1949), the year after the founding of the DPRK, he led its government delegation to visit the Soviet Union and concluded an agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries.

This brought about a radical development in the bilateral trade transactions.

During the Fatherland Liberation War (June Juche39(1950) - July Juche42(1953)), he gave instructions on the principle of foreign trade, problem of export resources and its items and guided the work of conducting foreign trade without letup according to wartime conditions.

As a result, major ore mines and factories and enterprises in industrial areas have been restored and the production of export goods increased to render great services to achieving victory in the war.

At that time, in the field of foreign trade, the DPRK was biased to the socialist countries including the Soviet Union and China. But he led this field to expand its external market to other countries, with the result that the government made foreign trade multilateral and diversified and increased its scope in a short period, and actively encouraged the completion of socialist industrialization by conducting brisk trade activities with many other countries.

In this period, the government concluded trade agreements with over 120 countries, produced and exported many types of machines including machinery and equipment, iron and steel, cement, electric apparatus and nonferrous metal products, and imported crude oil, raw rubber, cokes, etc.

The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung stressed the need to conduct a profound study of the international market and maintain the credit-first principle firmly, conclude trade contracts properly and implement it unconditionally, pack the export goods well and observe the date of delivery. He also ensured that trade activities were conducted with the Southeast Asian countries while paying due concern to East European countries in accordance with the changed situation in the 1990s.

Under the leadership of the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il, foreign trade of the DPRK ushered in a new era of its development.

Based on his close analysis of the relationship between self-supporting national economy and external economic activities, he had the external economic activities conducted briskly.

He took positive measures to develop foreign trade in conformity with the situation in the early 1990s when the socialist market disappeared.

Under the wise leadership of the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il who ensured that the foreign trade relations were developed with all countries respecting the sovereignty of the DPRK regardless of the differences in socio-political systems, the government pushed forward trading in consumer goods, technology and service, by braving heinous economic blockade and isolate-and stifle schemes of the hostile forces. At the same time it conducted various forms of exchange by establishing many-sided economic relations with them in the fields of finance, currency, investment, insurance, transport and others.

It also expanded the scope of export in many fields such as scientific and technical research, coal and ferrous and nonferrous metal, iron- and steel-making, chemistry, machine building and cement. On the other hand, it made sufficient supply of materials needed for the building of an economic giant.

It launched electronics, bioengineering, new material engineering, CNC technology, nano technology, genetic technology, space technology and other fields of science and technology, and stepped up the establishment of hi-tech industries. It also took several measures to encourage and give preference to the activities of trading companies contributing to them.

In this way a radical turn has been brought about in the development of foreign trade.

Today, following the line of 

the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un to expand and develop the relations of the external economy, foreign trade of the DPRK is contributing to the building of a socialist giant by glorifying forever the immortal leadership exploits of the great leaders for its development.