Kim Jong Un's regime embarked on a massive exercise to seal its borders with China and Russia, cutting off routes plied by smugglers and defectors, during the pandemic.
SEOUL — For North Koreans, the country's northern frontier long offered rare access to outside information, trade opportunities, and the best option for those seeking to flee.
"The traditional North Korea-China route is now effectively over, unless there is a major change in the situation," said Kim, a South Korean pastor who has helped North Koreans defect. He and others who conduct sensitive work on the border spoke on the condition of partial or full anonymity, citing concerns for their safety and a desire to protect their networks.
Those towns "benefited from formal and informal trade since the famine in the 1990s, but really don't have many other economic advantages," he said. "So the crackdowns are hitting two vulnerable groups, women and the population of the geographic periphery."Reuters and Middlebury examined Google Earth Pro satellite imagery of North Korea's northern frontier, taken at various stages between 2019 and early 2023.
"Those areas don't necessarily have larger city or village infrastructure but lack the natural boundaries that could act as a barrier from getting into or leaving the country," Schmerler said. China's foreign ministry said in a statement to Reuters that it was not aware of the situation, but that "China and North Korea have been maintaining communication and working together to maintain the security and stability of the border."
"The North Korean government has been using COVID-19 as an excuse to build these new fences, guard posts and other infrastructure," said Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch.The new border barriers come as Kim Jong Un strengthens his grip inside the country, which is under international sanctions because of its nuclear-weapons development.
Up to 80% of North Koreans depend on informal markets known as jangmadang for daily necessities, according to a report released in March by Elizabeth Salmon, the United Nations independent investigator for human rights in North Korea. But these markets have had their activities sharply curtailed, she wrote, noting that the border closures have forced a vulnerable population "to the brink.
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