The number of North Korean restaurants operating in Southeast Asia has dwindled in recent years, NK News has found, as U.N. sanctions, pandemic restrictions or a combination of both have apparently forced the businesses to shutter.

But photos taken by NK News also show that there were still several DPRK eateries in Laos and Vietnam as of earlier this year, though in some cases they appear to have curtailed their operations or made efforts to conceal their ties to Pyongyang.

North Korea has operated restaurants in cities around the world for years, deploying select citizens abroad to staff more than