The volume of inter-Korean trade has fallen sharply this year.

The Korea Customs Service says the total amount of South Korean exports to North Korea from January to July was 447 million dollars, and imports from the North reached 510 million dollars for a total trade volume of 957 million dollars.

This is down 16 percent from the one-point-one billion dollars posted during the first seven months of last year.

This year, exports to the North fell 14 percent from last year's 520 million dollars and imports fell 18 percent from 625 million in 2010.