North Korea’s borders are closed to the public

North Koreans have had access to rare outside information, trade opportunities, and the best option for those seeking to flee the country's northern border for the past few years.

But as the pandemic hit the world in 2020, Kim Jong Un's regime embarked on a massive exercise to seal its borders with Russia and China, cutting off routes plied by smugglers and defectors.

Since then, Pyongyang has constructed hundreds of kilometers of new or updated border fences, walls and guard posts, commercial satellite images show, enabling it to tighten the flow of information and goods into the country, keep foreign elements out and its people in.

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