BEIJING, May 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's imports from China for this year registered its first drop in three years due apparently to China's tightened grip on transactions with its ally under United Nations sanctions, Beijing's customs data showed Wednesday.

   The North brought in US$1.01 billion worth of Chinese goods during the January-April period, down 8.68 percent from a year earlier, according to China's online customs data analyzed by Yonhap News Agency.

   It was the first annual drop for the four-month period since 2010 when Customs-info, the online customs data provider, started to provide related information.

   The North's imports from China stood at $525.8 million for the same four-month period in 2010. It had posted two successive annual increases to reach $1.1 billion in 2012 before registering a fall this year, according to the data.

   The on-year reduction this year can be attributable to China's increased efforts to strictly apply punitive U. N. sanctions adopted to punish the North for its long-range rocket launch, believed to have been a test of its ballistic missile technology, and its third nuclear test, which occurred on Feb. 12.

   Taking a step back from its previous stance to keep neutral about its ally, China joined punitive international moves by tightening its customs and immigration inspections toward the North.

   The data, however, showed that the North's exports to China grew 6 percent on-year to $842.8 million during the January-April period.

   pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)