THE REASON FOR WAR: NORTH KOREA SITTING ON $7 TRILLION WORTH OF MINERALS

The total value of the untapped minerals in North Korea is said to be enough so that if shared out among the seven billion people on Earth, everyone would receive a share that was more than $1000.

NORTH KOREA IS HOME TO MORE THAN 200 MINERALS WORTH MORE THAN $7 TRILLION

The secluded nation is home to huge deposits of over 200 minerals and this is said to include copper, magnesite, zinc, molybdenum, gold, limestone and iron that in total is worth more than $7 trillion.

While there is a vast array or riches lying under the bedrock of North Korea, being able to take full advantage of them is something that has been very difficult. Thanks to the fact that North Korea lacks the mining machinery and equipment that would be needed to get at some of the rarer minerals, along with sanctions that make it illegal for private enterprises to put up drilling sites, it is impossible to extract the rarer minerals.

MINING MAKES UP 14% OF NORTH KOREA`S ECONOMY

Even with the limitations in place it has not put a stop to the country extracting a lot of the vast supplies of minerals and it has been said that mining is said to make up about 14% of the economy. However, even if North Korea does get the minerals from out of the ground they then have to offload them to other potential buyers and this is another huge hurdle to cross.

SANCTIONS IMPOSED ON NORTH KOREA FOLLOWING NUCLEAR TESTING IN 2006

The United Nations started to impose sanctions on North Korea following the first of their nuclear tests, which took place in 2006, and which have over the years become even stricter. In March 2016 the country was banned from being able to export gold along with titanium and vanadium.

Then in November of 2016 they were also banned from the exportation of zinc, nickel, copper and silver and also had a cap on exportation of coal. In August 2016 the Egyptian authorities intercepted a ship from North Korea that was making its way to the Suez Canal.

On the ship authorities found over 30,000 rocket grenades which had been buried underneath two million kilograms of iron ore.

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