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North Korea has announced it will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics this year, saying the decision is to protect its athletes from Covid-19. In 2018, both North and South Korea entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics which led to a series of historic summits. North Korea is already a closed country, but since last January, the borders have in effect been sealed, imposing the most severe Covid 19 quarantine. This has allowed the authorities to increase control over daily life to levels reminiscent of the famine of the 1990s. There have been reports of draconian lockdown measures and dire shortages of goods, and people living on as little as one bowl of boiled corn a day. Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher for Human Rights Watch, describes what is known about the situation in North Korea since the pandemic began. Photo: North Korea"s Sinuiju and the Broken Bridge over the Yalu river are seen from Dandon Credit: Reuters