North Korea: International sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic hit people's livelihoods |

North Korea has been facing UN sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear weapons programme. 

There are nearly a dozen UN sanctions that target individuals and the government. This in addition to sanctions from the European Union and the United States. UN sanctions are enforced by individual member states which isn't straightforward or even easy. International sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic have hit people's livelihoods there so hard that a UN expert is warning that vulnerable groups are at risk of starving. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has acknowledged the food situation in his country is tense. So, the regime in Pyongyang is promoting alternative sources of nutrition.