Inside North Korea: Delivering Aid in the World's Most Isolated Country

Center for Korean Research

Kathi Zellweger and Mike Chinoy offer firsthand insights into humanitarian aid, trust, and the human stories behind work in North Korea.

420 W 118th St room 918

Speaker: Kathi Zellweger, Former Country Director, Swiss Agency for Development and CooperationSpeaker: Mike Chinoy, Former CNN Foreign CorrespondentKathi Zellweger was based in Pyongyang from 2006–2011 as country director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Before that, she worked for the Catholic Agency Caritas in Hong Kong, where she played a key role in pioneering Caritas’s involvement in North Korea. She later established her own NGO, KorAid Limited, to serve children in institutions and people with disabilities in North Korea. Zellweger is affiliated with the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University in California and is a Non-resident Fellow at the European Center for North Korean Studies at the University of Vienna.Mike Chinoy is a non-resident scholar at the University of California, San Diego’s 21st Century China Center. Previously, he spent twenty-four years as a foreign correspondent for CNN, serving as bureau chief in Beijing and Hong Kong, and senior Asia correspondent. Chinoy won Emmy, DuPont, Peabody, and ACE awards for his coverage of China. He is the author of six books, three on North Korea, and has visited North Korea seventeen times. Chinoy is also the co-author of the new book, Miss Kathi: Saving Lives in North Korea, described by former CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan as “an unrivaled account of heartbreak and heroism in the world’s least understood nation, North Korea.”Reclusive, impoverished, and deeply misunderstood, North Korea is one of the most challenging places in the world to deliver humanitarian assistance. Swiss aid worker Kathi Zellweger is among the very few Westerners to have lived in North Korea, having visited the country 75 times and lived there for five years. She will share her experiences navigating the painstaking process of building trust, overcoming institutional skepticism, and delivering vital aid to vulnerable populations—especially children—who are largely overlooked by both the international community and their own government. She is joined by former CNN foreign correspondent Mike Chinoy, co-author of the new book, Miss Kathi: Saving Lives in North Korea.Zellweger’s experiences provide a rare firsthand perspective on the challenges of delivering humanitarian assistance inside one of the world’s most isolated countries. Through her work in North Korea, she confronted the difficulties of navigating institutional skepticism, establishing relationships, and ensuring that aid reached vulnerable populations. Her work particularly focused on children in institutions and people with disabilities, populations that often receive limited attention from both the international community and the North Korean government.The discussion will explore the realities of humanitarian work in North Korea, including the painstaking process of building trust and working within a highly controlled political and institutional environment. Zellweger and Chinoy will also discuss the human stories behind international aid efforts and the challenges of assisting vulnerable communities in a country that remains largely closed to the outside world. PLEASE NOTE: For non-Columbia guests, registration is required to access the Morningside campus 24 hours prior to the event. After registering you will receive an email with a QR code that must be presented along with a government-issued ID (your name must match exactly the name registered for the event) at either the 116th Street &amp; Broadway or 116th Street &amp; Amsterdam gates for entry. Please register using a unique email address (one email address per registrant) by 12:00 PM on Friday, October 2 for campus access.Names will be submitted for QR codes 1-2 days prior to the event and subsequently reviewed. Registrants will receive an email from CU Guest Access with the QR code before or on the day of the event.

Inside North Korea: Delivering Aid in the World's Most Isolated Country

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Inside North Korea: Delivering Aid in the World's Most Isolated Country

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