• Malkhodr @lemmygrad.ml
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      2 months ago

      There is no law preventing North Korean Citizens from leaving in the DPRK. In fact over 100k North Koreans work abroad, mainly in China and Russia.

      The reasons North Koreans don’t leave to many other places is entirely do to the US. Since they are sanctioned, the currency of the DPRK is extremely weak, making it incredibly hard to afford any kind if travel outside of the country for one. There’s also the fact that the DPRK has one of the world’s weakest passports, most countries not accepting them without prior approval.

      This also pales at the fact that due to a UN resolution spearheaded by the US, employing North Koreans can mean being sanctioned. The justification being so that DPRK citizens can’t send money back home to their families. They basically have to revoke their Citizenship and forgo ever returning to their families if they want to live outside the country because of these sanctions.

      In a way you’re right that North Koreans can’t leave their country, but not because of their own government but because what the US government.

      • howmuchlonger@lemmy.org
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        2 months ago

        The statement is largely false and misrepresents how movement works in North Korea. In the North Korea, the government strictly controls citizens’ ability to leave the country. Exit is not a right: ordinary citizens cannot freely obtain passports or travel abroad without state permission, which is granted only to a small, vetted group (such as laborers, diplomats, or students). Unauthorized attempts to leave are treated as crimes and can result in severe punishment for both the individual and their family. While it is true that tens of thousands of North Koreans have worked abroad, these workers are carefully selected, monitored, and their earnings are heavily controlled by the state. International sanctions—often coordinated through the United Nations Security Council—do restrict overseas employment and financial flows, but they are not the primary reason citizens cannot freely leave; the main barrier is the DPRK’s own internal system of political control and travel restrictions.