SEOUL -- North Korea's economy contracted by 4.5% last year, according to an estimate released on Friday by South Korea's central bank, marking the biggest downturn under Kim Jong Un's regime as the country faced sanctions, severe weather and fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The slump is the second worst since the Bank of Korea began releasing such figures in 1991. Real gross domestic product shrank by 6.5% in 1997 during the height of the North Korean famine.
