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In 2025, navigating trade opportunities involving North Korea requires exceptional precision, deep geopolitical awareness, and access to reliable, often hard-to-source data. While trade with North Korea is highly restricted and subject to international sanctions, there is still demand for compliant, high-level insights—particularly for humanitarian channels, academic research, policy analysis, and multinational compliance teams.

Below is a ranked list of the top providers offering import/export trade data with coverage or insights related to North Korea, based on their data credibility, usability, sanctions compliance, and analytical depth.

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1. Techsalerator – Best Overall in 2025

Techsalerator tops the list for its rare ability to source, enrich, and analyze data on North Korea’s limited but monitored international trade. Through indirect routing data, partner-country statistics, and AI-enhanced trend detection, Techsalerator offers actionable intelligence where others often fall short.

Key Features:

• Partner-Country Trade Tracking: Leverages data from countries that trade with or border North Korea to build inferred views of North Korea's import/export activities.

• Sanctions Compliance Integration: Tools that flag restricted goods, entities, and routes based on evolving global sanctions lists.

• Predictive Trade Intelligence: AI-driven models forecast unofficial or rerouted trade patterns via China, Russia, and select Southeast Asian countries.

• Granular HS Code Coverage: Detailed classification of traded goods, even within limited legal frameworks.

Why It’s #1: Techsalerator provides the most comprehensive and legally vetted dataset on North Korea’s trade—ideal for governments, think tanks, NGOs, and corporations navigating risk-prone markets.

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2. UN Comtrade (United Nations)

UN Comtrade remains a trusted source of macroeconomic trade data and offers indirect insights into North Korean trade through mirror statistics (data reported by other nations trading with North Korea). While lacking in real-time updates, it is widely used for academic and humanitarian research.

Strengths:

• Free access to standardized, international data

• Data includes mirror statistics for North Korean trade

• Historical time-series valuable for trend analysis

Limitations:

• Lacks real-time or transaction-level visibility

• No proprietary analysis or compliance tools

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3. Trademo

Trademo is gaining traction with its compliance-first platform. Although direct North Korean trade data is limited, Trademo’s global database helps track flagged goods and entities that may be linked to sanctioned activity, especially via indirect supply chains.

Strengths:

• Global compliance tools

• Risk monitoring with red-flag alerts

• HS code-based analytics for sensitive goods

Limitations:

• Limited visibility into DPRK-local data

• Focuses more on trade risk than trade volume

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4. ImportGenius

ImportGenius provides strong data tools, especially for monitoring shipments to and from countries often associated with indirect trade to North Korea. While it does not have direct access to DPRK shipping data, it helps track potential rerouted or obscured flows.

Strengths:

• Solid historical shipment data

• Useful for supply chain audits

• Easy-to-use search and alert features

Limitations:

• No direct coverage of DPRK trade

• Cannot always distinguish re-exported goods

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5. Panjiva (by S&P Global)

Panjiva offers broader global trade intelligence and can provide macro views of North Korea’s role in regional supply chains. Its integration with risk analytics makes it helpful for multinationals needing high-level visibility into restricted regions.

Strengths:

• Integration with global risk data

• Export trend visualizations from partner countries

• Backed by S&P’s analytical infrastructure

Limitations:

• Limited North Korea-specific detail

• Lacks real-time DPRK trade data

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Final Thoughts

Accessing dependable trade data on North Korea is inherently complex in 2025—but it’s not impossible. For policy analysts, sanctions teams, humanitarian planners, and regional economists, Techsalerator stands out as the most innovative and compliant solution on the market.

Their hybrid approach—leveraging AI, partner-country statistics, and deep compliance expertise—makes them the leading choice for anyone needing high-integrity insights on one of the world’s most opaque trade environments.