It’s easy to overlook just how much North Korea has changed in a short amount of time.

I first came to South Korea in 2008, and with the benefit of hindsight, it’s now clear that I arrived at the end of an era — a brief season of openings that felt permanent at the time but are now gone.

Locals could easily and cheaply visit DPRK tourists sites. Thousands of ROK workers commuted daily to factories in North Korea. Chinese border areas were thronged with Koreans who would share details from inside the DPRK.

One by one, these doors swung