January 17, 2009:
North Korean arms exports rose to over $100 million in 2008, after a sharp drop in 2007 (because of international outrage over North Koreas nuclear weapons test in 2006.) North Korea exports lots of low level weapons (rifles, pistols, grenades, RPGs, mortars, machine-guns), but most of the money comes from the sale of large rockets and ballistic missiles (along sales of the technology and components.) In the last decade, North Korean arms sales were often over $200 million a year. This is important to them, for their total exports rarely hit a billion dollars a year. Generally, the North Koreans will sell to anyone who can pay cash, no questions asked (and no credit terms offered.)