News North Korea spent $965,000 on a mysterious Russian item in August: Trade dataAside from the mystery item category, the DPRK also spent serious cash on two powerful turbine engines North Korea imported Russian medical products, construction tools and building materials while continuing to de-prioritize food in August, staying on trend with previous months, according to recently-released data from Russia’s Federal Customs Service. August’s most imported item by U.S. dollar value is a mysterious and uncategorized item — a very rare occurrence in Russian trade data. The item is labeled “SSSSSSSS,” which appears to be a default system placeholder where a Harmonized System (HS) code describing the product normally appears. According to the data, the DPRK spent over $965,000 on 4,800 kilograms (10,582 pounds) of this © Korea Risk Group. All rights reserved. |