Humanitarian organizations say North Korea’s ongoing border closure has made it “impossible” to accurately assess the level of need inside the country, according to the latest U.N. Panel of Experts report, with no information from Pyongyang on when foreign aid workers will be able to return.

Several organizations told the panel overseeing the DPRK sanctions regime that North Korea’s pandemic border controls are the primary barrier to humanitarian activities in the country, rather than international sanctions, the report released last week states.

But while experts have expressed concernabout growing humanitarian problems during the pandemic, the Panel states in its