In the previous study, the types of North Korea’s strategic items, foreign trading partners, and export items were investigated. From North Korea’s typical trade paths, it is possible to predict the paths through which North Korea’s strategic items are illegally exported upon denuclearization. Trading partners of North Korea are the potential importing countries or end-users of strategic items, which can be disguised or concealed as if it is general export items during typical export procedures. So, in this study, transfer paths of North Korea’s export items are examined by utilizing KOTRA statistics, including item type HS code and its total price. Also, AnyLogic, a comprehensive simulation modeling tool, the simulation will be conducted to identify the paths for illegal transfer and calculate the time required. The information on North Korea’s trading partners and items is used for establishing export scenarios in which strategic items are transferred to other countries through North Korea’s ports, airports, railroads, and roads. To be specific, China, Russia, and South Korea, countries that share a border with North Korea, export items transported only by land; the items will arrive first in the referred three countries. Since the types of items, North Korea transacts with each country are different, the total amount and frequency of transactions are different; the probability of strategic items being included in general export items and transferred during customs clearance also varies. Even if it does not border North Korea, North Korea can export items through ports to countries adjacent to the coastline, and North Korea can even export items to any country by airspace even if it is not adjacent to the coastline. So, all publicly open ports, airports, railways, and roads are surveyed. Their geographic information, such as EPSG 4326 and EPSG 3857 coordinate system, are applied to confirm and visualize valid export paths starting from North Korea. In conclusion, effective export paths in North Korea are identified based on North Korea’s each major transportation hub by using AnyLogic simulation. It is possible to predict the paths through which North Korea’s strategic items will be transferred by combining information on major export items and countries that North Korea mainly transacts with.
Investigating major trading partners and items with North Korea is informative in terms that it can predict the path through which North Korea’s strategic items will transfer to non-nuclear-weapon states when North Korea denuclearizes. By analyzing North Korea’s trading partners and the items, it is possible to identify the relevant countries through which items arrive from the first importing country to the end-user in the process of exporting items and to predict the way how North Korea disguise or conceal their strategic items among general items during normal export procedures. As of 2020, North Korea’s major trading partners are China, Russia, Vietnam, India, Nigeria, and Switzerland. Compared to 2019, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ghana, and Thailand entered the top 10, while Brazil, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and South Africa pushed out of the top 10. North Korea’s trade dependence on China accounts for 88.2%, making it the largest trading partner for years, and it shows that North Korea is mainly conducting trade with Asian and African countries. North Korea’s most important export items are mineral products (HS 25-27) and steel & metal products (HS 72-83) and the most significant import items are mineral products (HS 25-27) and oils & fats & prepared foods (HS 15-24). In 2017, due to UN Security Council sanctions for North Korea’s international ballistic missile (ICBM) test-fire, North Korea’s exports from 3 billion dollars fell by 90% to less than 300 million dollars. This is the result of most of North Korea’s major export items included in the export ban, and changes have occurred in its export items. In 2020, export fell to less than 100 million dollars due to border lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which also affected the change of North Korea’s major export items. Although North Korea does not officially publish its foreign trade statistics, in order to review North Korea’s trade information, KOTRA statistics are utilized. KOTRA statistics provide only two digits of HS code number, so it is challenging to identify detailed item classification. Moreover, these statistics are based on the export amount, so it is difficult to determine the exact quantity of export items. It is expected that information on North Korean trading partners and items will be used to predict potential transferable export methods of North Korea’s strategic items when North Korea denuclearizes.
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of drying methods for Citrus junos peels on quality characteristics of the hot-water leachate from teabags containing those peels. Fresh peels were hot-air (50℃), cold-air (30℃), or freeze-dried (-45℃), powdered to a size of 40 mesh, packaged with a paper sachet, and then the packaged teabags were leached for 10 min with hot-water (70℃). L*value (lightness) and -a* value (greenness) of the peel powder were the highest in the freeze-dried samples. Soluble solids and titratable acidity of the teabag leachate were in the following order; cold-air, freeze, and hot-air dried samples. Among free sugar contents in all samples, fructose content was the highest, followed by glucose and sucrose. Fructose and glucose contents were not affected by drying methods. There was no significant difference in the flavonoid content among the peels dried using three drying methods. DPPH radical-scavenging activity of the leachate was the highest in the cold-air dried sample. These results suggest that cold-air drying would be an effective method to enhance the quality of hot-water leachate of teabags prepared from C. junos peels.