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SEOUL - Trade between South Korea and the communist North decreased sharply last month due to worsening ties, according to official data Sunday.
Inter-Korean trade volume stood at 160 million dollars in October, down 23.2 percent from 210 million dollars (S$321.699 million) a year ago, said the South's unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations.
The ministry attributed the decline to South Korea's economic slowdown and its worsening relations with North Korea.
Trade had grown sharply since a watershed inter-Korean summit in 2000, relying heavily on Seoul-funded projects such as the Kaesong industrial complex, which earns the North tens of millions of dollars a year.
But relations soured after conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak took office in February. He has promised to take a firmer line with the North after a decade-long "sunshine" engagement policy under his liberal predecessors.
Tension grew after North Korean soldiers shot dead a Seoul woman tourist at the North's Mount Kumgang resort in July. South Korea has suspended tours to the resort.
The hardline communist country has threatened to shut the border from December 1 in protest at what it called Seoul's policy of confrontation.
A total border closure would cripple the Kaesong industrial complex where, more than 32,000 North Koreans work for 83 South Korean-owned factories.
The two nations have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty.
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