North Korea’s yearslong border restrictions to keep COVID-19 at bay appear to have finally failed, as state media reported Thursday that the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 had reached Pyongyang.

After refusing multiple offers of support from outside countries and organizations since the pandemic began, analysts are divided on whether the DPRK will change its mind even as it battles an outbreak within its borders. 

“The international community has already offered North Korea vaccine assistance, but it has refused,” said Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, adding that it would be “a big