Humanitarian aid organizations remain willing and broadly capable of returning to North Korea but are being held back primarily by U.S. and international regulatory barriers, according to a new report by the National Committee on North Korea (NCNK).

Based on a closed-door conference late last year with aid groups that operated in North Korea before the pandemic, the report argues that sanctions licensing delays, travel restrictions and stalled U.N. exemption processes have significantly weakened preparedness for any future humanitarian crisis in the DPRK. 

The U.S.-based NCNK said participants agreed that without regulatory reforms, humanitarian groups could struggle to mobilize quickly