With the recent acceleration of the digital and platform economy, research on the innovation ecosystem has been actively expanding. Up until now, studies on the innovation ecosystem have postulated an open innovation environment without specific constraints. However, there are some environments that exhibit a relatively closed nature. Consequently, this study examines the structural characteristics and evolutionary patterns of the innovation system in cases where there are limitations in the economic system, focusing on the analysis of North Korea's innovation system. This study seeks to explore the structural characteristics and nature of the innovation ecosystem in North Korea using scientometrics analysis. In this context, this study collects science and technology papers published in the "Technology Innovation" journal in North Korea from the year 2000 to 2019, conducting a co-author network analysis. The analytical results reveal that the structural model of North Korea's innovation ecosystem corresponds to the Triple Helix I model, and innovation activities predominantly occur within the individual domains of industry, academia, and government research institution. Additionally, the innovation ecosystem in North Korea has been shown to maintain a static equilibrium rather than undergoing dynamic changes over time. This indicates that despite North Korea's attempts to establish an innovation-friendly system within the science and technology framework, such as promoting cooperation among academia, industry, and research, the central control and closed economic system in North Korea act as obstacles to the emergence and evolution of an innovation ecosystem. These results suggest the importance of creating an open environment for the development of an innovation ecosystem.