Overseas restaurants
This is the most important source of foreign exchange for the DPRK.
The DPRK's overseas restaurants are mainly located in major cities in more than 10 countries, including China, Russia, Italy, Thailand and Cambodia, with roughly 30 or more restaurants or pubs.
As the North's base for earning foreign exchange, most of these restaurants and pubs are of a higher class, priced much higher than local prices, but also once did a brisk business.
But after U.N. sanctions in March last year, the situation for these North Korean restaurants scattered overseas became difficult, although the restaurants themselves were not actually on the sanctions list under the U.N. resolution.
Malaysia, where the two countries once had friendly relations, is an important "stronghold" for North Korea in Southeast Asia, and there is a North Korean restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.
On the opening day of the restaurant in April 2008, then-Malaysian Transport Minister Ong Sijit and then-North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia Park Yong Yon attended the opening ceremony.
The restaurant is now closed following a diplomatic row over the death of a North Korean man in Malaysia.
Labor export
Labor export is also an important way for North Korea to earn foreign currency.
On Aug. 1, 2012, North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un issued an order saying the country should earn more foreign currency to be used to revive local factory production and improve people's living standards. Since then, the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the government and other agencies have been increasingly active in sending laborers overseas.
Data show that the DPRK is currently sending laborers to more than 50 countries, with most of the exporting countries being those with high demand for construction work, including Russia and China.
More than 60 percent of the expatriate laborers work in the construction industry, in addition to catering, sewing, forestry, medical, IT and agriculture.
In many countries where North Korean laborers are employed, they are appreciated for their "hard work and never complaining". It is said that all their salaries are paid into the accounts of the North Korean embassy, which in turn distributes about 1/4 of the income to the laborers.
That means they get about $300 a month, based on the average wage of North Korean overseas laborers. Even so, that income is still higher than the per capita income at home.
Tourism
Tourism is also becoming increasingly important in North Korea's foreign exchange earnings.
South Korean researchers estimate that North Korea earned up to $43.6 million in 2014 from tourism. As of 2014, North Korea attracted 100,000 foreign tourists, mostly Chinese.
The North Korean government aims to attract 1 million overseas tourists a year as of 2017, rising to 2 million by 2020, the information shows.
Kim Jong-un has said, "Investment in the development of tourism is the most important task of the DPRK, which will not only bring economic benefits to the country, but also improve the world's perception of the DPRK."
But U.N. sanctions against North Korea have similarly stymied the country's tourism development.
Since then, the DPRK has stepped up efforts to attract tourists from all over the world, including Chinese tourists, to get rid of its foreign exchange shortage. To this end, the country has launched a variety of tourism products and services.