China exported tobacco products to North Korea worth more than $75 million last year, including more than two billion cigarettes and a few thousand tons of tobacco leaves, according to recent trade data published by the Chinese General Administration of Customs (GAC) and analyzed by NK News.

The numbers come as recent GAC data also show that North Korea’s alcohol purchases from China topped $30 million last year.

They also come after DPRK leader Kim Jong Un told senior Workers’ Party leadership last December that his country would have to “tighten our belts” amid the many sanctions-induced pressures squeezing