Faith-based organizations (FBOs) have played a disproportionate role in providing aid to North Korean people over the years, assisting with projects ranging from the DPRK’s first privately funded university and a spine rehabilitation center to a surfing camp.

But recent developments — in particular U.S. and U.N. sanctions and the pandemic — have increasingly disrupted the activities of these mostly evangelical Protestant humanitarian workers and volunteers, forcing them to reevaluate their work in the DPRK.

In some cases, these humanitarian evangelicals have pivoted from North Korea to other countries, seeing few prospects for resuming