September 1st marked a significant day for humanitarian organizations working in North Korea. It was the day that the U.S. Geographic Travel Restriction (GTR) was renewed for a fifth consecutive year. Since 2017, Americans have been restricted from traveling to North Korea. The official reason is to protect U.S. citizens from undue harm or detainment, even though statistical analyses do not support such a reason. Over 6,000 U.S. citizens have traveled to North Korea since 2000 (Data from the Korean American National Coordinating Council), and there has only been 17 detainees since then, all of whom were released and returned to the United States. Despite less than a 0.2% probability of being detained, approximately 200 resident U.S. citizens had to leave North Korea because of the travel ban, including even humanitarian organizations providing life-saving aid.

As a result, the extension of the travel ban was a huge disappointment to humanitarian organizations. But the good news is that for the first time since the travel ban multiple-entry Special Validation Passports are now on the table. Once the travel ban was implemented, the U.S. State Department carved out an exemption for a select few humanitarian organizations working in North Korea. This involved applying for single-entry SV Passports to North Korea. Not all organizations were exempt. SV Passports were issued only to organizations providing a limited scope of humanitarian aid in the areas of food relief, clean water, medical support and treatment, critical agricultural aid, and assistance to vulnerable disabled individuals in North Korea. The main struggle with these SV Passports was not only the application process but also the constant subjectivity of approval by the State Department. The SV Passports allowed for only one trip and required humanitarian workers to reapply multiple times for the same project.

Now that multiple-entry SV Passports are on the table, though, it provides hope to dozens of organizations with long-standing history of working in North Korea. Multiple-entry SV Passports will be given exclusively to organizations who are traveling for compelling humanitarian considerations and have a well-established history of traveling to North Korea on well-monitored projects. Both itineraries and sufficient documentation are required with the application process to prove the above criteria. Although the selection criteria is extremely vague, we can assume that organizations who have already been obtaining single-entry SV Passports will also qualify for these multiple-entry SV Passports.

Multiple trips and long-term status are essential to meeting needs on the ground in North Korea. One of the main challenges of working in North Korea is the lack of transparency and trust between donors and recipients. And the only way to provide transparency is by being in country and assuring that humanitarian aid is properly distributed and used.

Humanitarian work is not just the delivery of goods. It goes far beyond that. Humanitarian-related projects in North Korea require large amounts of time invested on the ground, including even long-term residence. Specifically, it requires frequent discussions with North Korean counterparts, on-going medical treatment and training, on-site monitoring, and in-field implementation of humanitarian projects.

Ignis Community has been able to make ground-breaking strides in treatment for children with developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy and autism. This was only possible because of our residence in country. It took years to advocate for both the medical treatment and special education of children with disabilities. Meanwhile, we were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of treatment and therapy by being in the hospital, treating patients on a daily basis. As a result, Ignis Community has now been granted the privilege of establishing Pediatric Rehabilitation Departments in all ten of the Children’s Provincial Hospitals throughout the entire nation. The truth is that Ignis Community was only given access to every province in North Korea because we were literally living on the ground, working day in and day out with our North Korean counterparts.

Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic the borders to North Korea are currently completely closed. Although humanitarian organizations are now able to apply for permission to go on multiple trips to North Korea, these passports have yet to be tested. Along with the whole world, the pandemic has complicated an already difficult situation in North Korea as much-needed medical and humanitarian shipments are unable to reach the most vulnerable in the country.

It is unknown how much longer North Korea will keep its borders closed. If past pandemics, such as the Ebola outbreak and SARS, are any indicator, North Korea will most likely be the last country to reopen its borders. This could potentially mean another full year for North Korea to sustain itself without outside support or aid.

Words cannot express how difficult life must be right now in North Korea. But the good news is that humanitarian organizations are actively trying to engage with North Korea. Several non-profit organizations, such as Ignis Community, have more than a decade of experience working on the ground. Given the freedom to travel, humanitarian organizations, like ours, can and will save lives.