North Korean Defector Talks Plight As Seoul Gets Tough On Pyongyang

ANSEONG, South Korea — Speaking from behind a partition in a conference room, a North Korean woman described how the coronavirus pandemic has upended life in her mountainous village near China.

When North Korean authorities closed the border in the early stages of the pandemic, revenue from cross-border smuggling of goods dried up, as did the flow of essential items like gasoline.