What a Friend We Have in China

This is the title to a song the North Koreans should be singing. 

The second verse - insert South Korea for China.

From 2000-2005 North Korean imports (oil, pork, electronic gadgets, farming machinery) from China more than doubled to $1.1 billion while its exports (fish, low-grade steel and mineral) multiplied 12 fold from $37 million to almost a half billion.

Add to that informal trading = smuggling and those figures could almost double.

South Korea shipped some $715 million in goods.

These numbers add up to North Korea is not feeling so isolated as one might think.

China and South Korea are the North Korea's only two lifelines.

And neither country is too eager to see the situation change.

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