North Korea Needs More International Partners to Weather Its Food Crisis

Sangsoo Lee

Commentaries and Op-eds February, 2023

North Korea has long been one of the most isolated countries in the world, but its isolation became even more extreme amid the pandemic. The country has cut off its few ties and prolonged diplomatic activities with the outside world due to its border shutdown after the outbreak of COVID-19.

In the name of combating the pandemic, Pyongyang has essentially halted all foreign interactions, including state visits, exchanges of delegations, international cooperation, and humanitarian aid. No Western foreign diplomats and humanitarian workers are left in the country, as the last remaining two U.N. staff left the North in March 2021, and the Romanian Embassy, the last European diplomatic presence, also decided to close down in October of that year.  Currently, a few foreign diplomats from Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Syria, and Egypt are still remaining in North Korea as points of contact.

 

Read this article by Sangsoo Lee at The Diplomat.

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