North Korea is easing Covid-19 border restrictions imposed nearly four years ago to help its beleaguered economy recover from the hit the country took when it sealed itself off, South Korea said.
“We presume there were a lot of economic difficulties North Korea faced due to the border closure,” Unification Ministry spokesman Koo Byoung-sam told reporters Monday. “There were probably many inconveniences as personnel exchanges were blocked.”
Kim Jong Un’s decision to shut borders also slammed the breaks on the little trade the heavily sanctioned state can conduct. It led to a contraction that caused the economy to be smaller than when Kim took power more than a decade ago, according to estimates from the Bank of Korea in Seoul. North Korea has given no indication of when, or if, it would allow the return of foreign aid workers who once provided food and medicine to millions of people. The United Nations World Food Program, which has suspended operations in North Korea, has said about 40% of the population is undernourished, while “food insecurity and malnutrition are widespread.”
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