North Korea is a prime example of a totalitarian system in which the state controls every aspect of citizens’ lives. As COVID-19 spread around the world, the North Korean news agency reported there were no cases of COVID-19 in the country. International experts speculate that there were indeed cases of the Coronavirus in North Korea, but strict control by the government of people’s public and private lives kept accurate information about the virus from being reported (Amnesty International 2020; Berlinger 2020). At the start of 2021, the North Korean government contacted European embassies requesting doses of the vaccine. This caused many to speculate that the North Korean coronavirus case count was indeed higher than previously reported (Martin, 2021).