Asklemmy

It's extremely common for citizens of the DPRK to visit, live, and/or work in the PRC. The two countries are on favorable terms. The DPRK has no "gulags," the GULAG administration was a part of the early-mid soviet penal system, it isn't a generic term for prisons in socialist countries.

The reason so few North Koreans are abroad is because the sanctions initiated by the USA at the United Nations make it nearly impossible for a UN member state to allow a North Korean citizen to enter. Let’s take a closer look at these sanctions.

Although North Korea has normalized diplomatic relations with most countries around the world, the sanctions imposed by the USA make it so that no UN member state can allow North Koreans to enter their borders. This effectively bans North Koreans from traveling to most countries, which makes it very convenient for the West, which imposed the sanctions, to claim: "See? They can’t leave their country." It’s a clever trick, but it’s a lie.

Here is a list of US-initiated UN sanctions against North Korea, with explanations in parentheses, along with additional information on sanctions imposed by individual countries:

1. UN Resolution 1718 (2006): (Devastating broad sanctions that hit North Korea’s economy, blocked trade and travel for anyone who even "supports the sovereignty and military defense of North Korea").

2. UN Resolution 1874 (2009): (Expanded harsh economic sanctions on North Korea, including mandatory inspections of all North Korean cargo, further tightening the noose on the already struggling economy).

3. UN Resolution 2087 (2013): (General tightening of economic and financial restrictions, expanding the travel ban).

4. UN Resolution 2094 (2013): (Expanded strict financial sanctions, banning financial transfers to North Korea, and expanded existing travel bans to cover anyone "associated with the North Korean military or nuclear program").

5. UN Resolution 2270 (2016): (Sanctions specifically targeting vital sectors of North Korea’s economy, such as minerals, cutting off critical revenue sources, and again expanding travel restrictions).

6. UN Resolution 2232 (2016): (Additional significant restrictions on trade and financial operations).

7. UN Resolution 2371 (2017): (A further escalation of the economic war, this resolution virtually banned all exports from North Korea and included even broader and more vague restrictions targeting people connected with the North Korean government, which essentially includes everyone, including the military).

8. UN RESOLUTION 2375 (2017) (slashed North Korea’s oil imports and banned all textile exports, added more types of individuals to the travel ban list, extending the ban to anyone “supporting” the DPRK’s military or nuclear program, which again, is basically everyone lol)

9. UN RESOLUTION 2397 (2017) (sanctions expanded to a near-total embargo on oil supplies to the DPRK, extending the travel ban to include even more people and entities)

10. UN RESOLUTION 2407 (2018) (reaffirmed harsh sanctions, maintaining suffocating economic blockade and “panel” to oversee enforcement of sanctions)

The US-led UN Sanctions are comprehensive and extensive, but the citizens of the DPRK are subject to a ton of other active sanctions and travel bans imposed by individual countries and groups of countries, including—you guessed it—MORE US Sanctions!

The US has issued several Executive Orders targeting North Korea, including EO 13551 (2010), EO 13687 (2015), EO 13722 (2016), and EO 13810 (2017), which impose sweeping sanctions on North Korean people, entities, and sectors. US financial sanctions block, and can be used to seize the assets of any DPRK national, and prohibit any North Korean’s access to the U.S. financial system. There is a comprehensive and total trade embargo in place, and a total travel ban.

Not surprisingly, the EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand, have sanctions in place that are very similar to, and in many cases mirror the sanctions framework in the US. Japan has a total ban on trade and bans North Koreans from entering the country the same way South Korea does. In fact, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, and New Zealand have strict entry bans in place today.

TLDR: It isn’t so much that the DPRK doesn’t let its citizens leave, but that the US and its “allies” don’t let the citizens of the DPRK in.

I can't tell if this is a joke