It came as little surprise when North Korea gave in to its isolationist dispositions from the onset of COVID-19. The regime had always been aware of its weak healthcare system, and the pandemic threatened its survival even more than the famine of the mid-1990s.

But even as other countries have reopened, the DPRK is still maintaining its pandemic border controls. Many in the humanitarian community are extremely worried about the state of the North Korean population after three years of almost total isolation, with no U.N. personnel or aid workers in the country to monitor