North Korea's economy is one-33rd of that of South Korea.

The Bank of Korea on Tuesday said the North's gross national income last year was 20.8 billion dollars and per capita GNI was 914 dollars, one-16th of South Korea's.

The North's real gross domestic product grew 2.2 percent in 2004, up from 1.8 percent in 2003, thanks to strong agriculture and mining results for the sixth straight year of growth.

Its trade volume rose 19.7 percent from a year ago to 2.86 billion dollars in 2004, but was dwarfed by the South's 478.3 billion dollars.

The North's population was 22.7 million last year, less than half of the South's 48.1 million.