North Korea spent the pandemic building a border wall that now spans hundreds of kilometers, satellite imagery shows
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.
Reuters and Middlebury examined Google Earth Pro satellite imagery of North Korea’s northern frontier, taken at various stages between 2019 and early 2023. Defectors, human rights activists and sources in China involved in smuggling goods or people across the border said the new security features were choking economic lifelines for vulnerable people, closing paths of escape from the authoritarian country, and further limiting North Koreans’ access to outside information.
A November report by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch examined a 7.4 km section of the border around Hoeryong city on the Tumen River, an area that in 2019 already had substantial fencing and five watchtowers. By April 2022, authorities had built another 169 guard posts and more than 9 km of new or improved fencing along that section, it said.
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