North Korea is on the verge of a humanitarian collapse

During the Trump years, North Korea was hardly ever out of the news. From the US President’s threats of ‘fire and fury’ against the rogue state, to dramatic meetings with Kim Jong-un in Singapore and Hanoi, the world’s attention was firmly focused on Pyongyang. But with Trump out of office, the chaos of Covid-19, and the fall of Afghanistan, North Korea has fallen off the agenda. That could well be a terrible mistake, considering the state’s pressing humanitarian crisis.

Following the coronavirus outbreak last January, North Korea shut its borders almost completely. As a result trade with China, by far its biggest economic partner, has decreased by at least 80 per cent. In the third quarter of this year, the country’s entire trade with nearby Russia was only a pitiful $651 (£480) – by contrast, this trade totalled $34 million (£25m) in 2018. There are reports of sky-high inflation, with prices for essential goods in Pyongyang rocketing.