Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, Korean Peninsula Affairs Center present:

Katharina Zellweger, Visiting Fellow, Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University, Director of KorAid Limited (Hong Kong)

North Korea: Addressing Human Needs in a Challenging Environment

North Korea remains a closed-off society. After international humanitarian aid projects and programs began in the mid-1990s, however, more information began to become available about the social, humanitarian, and economic situation in the country. Yet, the international community continues to grapple with the question of whether or not – and, if so, how – to engage North Korea. Based on her hands-on experience and frequent in-country visits, Zellweger will put this question into perspective by sharing some insights on everyday life in North Korea and what can be done to help the country’s citizens move forward, develop and grow, despite a complex political environment.  

Katharina Zellweger is a senior aid manager with over 30 years of field experience in Hong Kong, China and North Korea. She was based in Pyongyang for five years (2006-2011) as the North Korea country director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), an office of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Zellweger currently manages the Hong Kong-based KorAid Limited, an NGO she established in 2015 to focus on serving children in institutions and people with disabilities in North Korea and in China with a view to later engagement in other projects in these countries. Zellweger is also a visiting fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University in California. She holds a master’s in International Administration from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Lunch will be served.

For more information, please contact: Havva Karakas-keles, hkarakas@syr.edu

Sponsored by the Korean Peninsula Affairs Center at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs