The economy of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has suffered through decades of international sanctions -that were intensified after the two nuclear tests of 2006 and 2009-and the imposition of extended controls over its economy and trade by the UN Security Council (UNSC).

The health system of DPRK has been one of the most impacted sectors; The North Korean government maintains the policy of military first and spends significant amounts of the country’s meager resources for military and nuclear development. Thus it bears a large part of the responsibility but any analysis would be one-sided and biased if it failed to equally address the impact of the international sanctions against DPRK. More