Though a UN report explicitly highlighting North Korea’s human rights abuses has occupied attention since last week, a similarly damning report came out just before that on the nation’s press freedom.

In the annual Press Freedom Indexreleased by the France-based NGO Reporters Without Borders (RWB), North Korea retained its dismal international ranking, ahead of only Eritrea in northeast Africa. This standing is all the more meaningful this week, as the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea highlighted, among other things, a lack of freedom of the press and a lack