"A policy that attempts to create a self-sufficient national economy entirely insulated from international trade, usually for ideological or strategic reasons."
(Institute for Trade and Commercial Diplomacy, Autarky, Glossary, visited 2011-02-04)
Historically, no country has ever achieved perfect self-sufficiency. For this reason the term "closed economy", or "limited autarky", which imply some importation, is more appropriate for the reality of countries such a North Korea, the closest modern day equivalent to an autarky.
