The Effect of Sanctions on the DPRK

doi:10.1017/9781108915632.007

5 - The Effect of Sanctions on the DPRK

Humanitarian Exemptions and the Health Sector

from Part I - Humanitarian Consequences

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2025

Edward I. Ham and

Edited by

Joy Gordon: Affiliation:
Loyola University, Chicago

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Summary

Sanctions have overall made a negative impact on the health outcomes of the North Korean people. The reasons are multifactorial. Sanctions are complex and have created massive administrative barriers and logistical challenges for the organizations that wish to take the time and effort to navigate them to provide humanitarian aid. Banks are hesitant to partner with those who work in the DPRK to avoid any possible risk that they could unknowingly be evading sanctions. For a similar reason, international funding for health in the DPRK has plummeted. The Covid-19 pandemic and associated DPRK-imposed border shutdown has exacerbated the precarious health status of the North Korean people. A reform of the sanctions regime is needed to ensure necessary humanitarian aid reaches the most vulnerable.

Keywords

banking channel Covid-19 DPRK humanitarian aid North Korea sanctions

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Economic Sanctions from Havana to Baghdad
Legitimacy, Accountability, and Humanitarian Consequences
, pp. 92 - 123

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108915632.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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