The North Korean economy is estimated to have grown one-point-three percent last year.

South Korea's central bank released data estimates showing that the North's manufacturing sector, including light and heavy chemical industries all posted growth in 2012. The country's agriculture, forestry and fisheries also grew last year.

The North Korean economy continues to grow since posting negative growth in 2009 and 2010. It grew eight tenths of a percent in 2011. 

Its gross national income was 33-and-a-half trillion won last year, one-38th of South Korea's. Its per capita national income was one-19th of the South's at over one-point-three million won.

Excluding inter-Korean trade, the North's trade volume was six-point-eight billion dollars, 450 million more from 2011. 

Inter-Korean trade grew 15 percent last year to one-point-nine-seven billion dollars, and nearly all of it, 99-point-five percent, was via deals made through the joint Gaeseong Industrial Park located just north of the border.