The term hermit kingdom is an epithet used to refer to any country, organization or society that willfully walls itself off, either metaphorically or physically, from the rest of the world. North Korea is commonly cited as a prominent example of a hermit kingdom in the present day.
The first country to be described as a "hermit kingdom" was Korea during the Joseon dynasty, in William Elliot Griffis's 1882 book Korea: The Hermit Nation.[1][2] Korea, which had become increasingly isolationist since the 17th century, was frequently described as a hermit kingdom until 1905, when it became a protectorate of Japan.[3]
During the Cold War, Enver Hoxha's Albania was widely considered a "hermit kingdom" as it was a Stalinist regime, did not allow ordinary citizens out of the country, and pursued autarky to become entirely self-sufficient. Unlike North Korea, Hoxha's regime, after the Sino-Albanian split, refused to ally with anyone and was hostile towards the entire world, which made it more isolationist than North Korea, which was then Stalinist but was allied with other Eastern Bloc states and did not become isolationist until after the end of the Cold War.[4][5]
Today, the term is often applied to North Korea in news and social media, and in 2009, it was used by Hillary Clinton, then the United States Secretary of State.[6] Other current countries considered isolationist "hermit kingdoms" include Turkmenistan,[7][8] Belarus,[9][10] Eritrea,[11] and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.[12] Historically, the term has been applied to Nepal,[13] Ladakh,[14] and Bhutan[15][16] in the Himalayas.
The term "hermit kingdom" has also been used to describe Western Australia when it closed its borders during the COVID pandemic.[17]