By the Human Rights Watch

The 148-page report, “‘A Sense of Terror Stronger than a Bullet’: The Closing of North Korea 2018–2023,” documents the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK or North Korea) overbroad, excessive, and unnecessary measures during the Covid-19 pandemic, including quarantines and new restrictions on economic activity and freedom of movement. The government’s new measures have severely affected food security and the availability of products needed by North Koreans to survive that previously entered the country via formal or informal trade routes from China.

The Human Rights Watch, March 7, 2024, 148 pages