Editor’s note: What If? is an NK News series featuring scenarios about North Korea’s future. Articles in this series draw on verified facts and rigorous analysis to explore hypothetical events in the years and decades ahead.

It’s Feb. 2024 — four years after North Korea closed its borders due to COVID-19 — and the Ministry of State Security has expanded its influence to become one of the most powerful agencies in the DPRK government.

Pyongyang has not allowed any diplomats or NGO workers back into the country since the pandemic began, leaving just a tiny handful of foreigners left. Tens