Hanna Song of @twtNKDB said during the #Jeju Forum that fewer North Koreans are escaping to South Korea amid the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting their knowledge of what is occurring inside the country.

"Many experts are calling this the new dark ages," she said.

During the height of the NK famine, 2,000 escapees a year made it south.

2021 saw 63

2022 saw 67

“Just because we hear little about what is happening in North Korea, it doesn't mean nothing is happening,” she said.