乐鱼体育

Featured Speaker: Katharina Zellweger of KorAid

Over the past two years, much of the foreign media attention on North Korea has focused on security and diplomacy, with the spotlight fixed squarely on leader Kim Jong Un as he embarks on an . Often missing from the picture: the daily lives of the ordinary people of North Korea, from farmers to factory workers, coping with tough international sanctions and an uncertain future at a time of stalled nuclear negotiations with the United States.

鈥淪ay the words 鈥楴orth Korea,鈥� and most everybody thinks of the country鈥檚 nuclear weapons program, the Singapore and Hanoi Summits between U.S. President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, and starving children,鈥� says Katharina Zellweger, director of the NGO and a visiting scholar at Stanford University.  鈥淔orgotten are the 25 million ordinary individuals who just happen to have been born there, and who are struggling day by day just to get by.鈥�

In late May, we invited Kathi Zellweger to join us at the in Jeju, South Korea, to help fill in the picture of life inside North Korea over the past 24 years.

Also joining us on the : the economist and former 乐鱼 体育 fellow of Seoul National University, author of the 2017 book who worked around the lack of data from the North Koreans by surveying defectors for his detailed study of the country鈥檚 little-understood economy. The AFP photojournalist Ed Jones and AFP bureau chief Sebastien Berger 鈥� today among the only Western journalists able to report regularly from Pyongyang 鈥� shared a selection of Jones鈥� insightful images, along with the backstory into the making of . Along with Katie Stallard-Blanchette, who traveled to North Korea and before joining us at the 乐鱼 体育 as a fellow last year, we discussed the challenges and merits of covering North Korea, given the restricted access and tightened international sanctions.

Few foreigners know North Korea as well as Kathi Zellweger, who made her first visit with the charity Caritas in the spring of 1995 when the country was in the . When I knew her during my time reporting from Pyongyang for the AP news agency, she was living in the capital as head of the North Korea office of the . Back then, we shared many humble meals and a fascination for . Her most recent visit was last week with KorAid, which focuses on .

The picture that emerged from her presentation was one of a country divided between the haves and have-nots...

Kathi has seen the country evolve, in large and small ways, through two major transitions of leadership. And she observes the changes with a clear-eyed sense of compassion for the people, a forthrightness that has earned her immense respect from the North Koreans. The picture that emerged from her presentation was one of a country divided between the haves and have-nots, a nation seeking to modernize but still mired in crushing poverty and chronic food insecurity.

Have things changed since 1995? 鈥淵es and no,鈥� she said, noting the visible changes in the economy, which she calls the M鈥檚: markets and money, mobile phones, motorcars, and an emerging middle class in Pyongyang.

But outside the capital, millions still struggle to put food on the table, she noted, citing a released earlier in the month. Even today, in 2019, farmers rely on oxen to plow the fields; tractors and fuel are few and far between, she noted.

Her concern: , particularly among children, who are not growing up with the diversity of diet needed to develop properly mentally and physically. She noted the continued and basic sanitation for half the nation鈥檚 population, and hospitals operating with outdated equipment and sporadic electricity. North Korea now has the in the world, with a looming crisis over untreated multi-drug resistant TB.

Already short on food, North Korea faces the this year. Lack of fertilizer, low snowfall and a dearth of spring rain are expected to affect their staple crops of rice, maize, potatoes and soy, she noted.

Market activity is up, showing the people鈥檚 capacity to adapt to tough conditions and continued sanctions.

To cope, North Koreans are growing their own food in greenhouses and state-run factories are producing more locally processed food. Market activity is up, showing the people鈥檚 capacity to adapt to tough conditions and continued sanctions.

Her NGO, KorAid, aims to help North Korea treat its neediest, including children, the ill and the elderly. Among its projects:

• Supporting 9,000 cataract operations annually by importing lenses, special eye drops and essential equipment
• Providing material for the production of 1,000 orthopedic devices yearly at a rehabilitation center in the northern city of Hamhung
• Training programs for staff at institutions as well as caregivers working with special needs children, such as workshops on autism
• Building and renovating greenhouses at children鈥檚 homes to help improve their access to nutritious foods, a project currently on hold due to sanctions.

Overall, the improvement in conditions in North Korea since 1995 is 鈥渕odest,鈥� Kathi says. But she sees some signs of promise in the resilience and resourcefulness of North Koreans today.

鈥淥rdinary citizens nowadays have better coping strategies than they did during the famine years,鈥� she said. 鈥淢arkets are accepted by the government, and with that, also making money. The uniformity is gone.鈥�

"We now have many realities in North Korea."

鈥淭here is a certain amount of decentralization, and today, the situation differs from place to place. We now have many realities in North Korea. The country鈥檚 economy has changed from ration-based to a de facto market economy, but the state鈥檚 control over the people is still quite strong.鈥�

Amid the daily difficulties and hardship Kathi witnesses, she says there is a ray of light.

鈥淭oday, another 鈥楳鈥� can be added. This 鈥楳鈥� is for mindsets,鈥� she said.  鈥淐itizens鈥� mindsets are changing, too, particularly among the younger generation in Pyongyang, but also in other locations. These are young adults who grew up in a time when the regime stopped providing everything, including food, clothing, many daily necessities, education and health care services. They are not used to receiving government handouts.鈥�

鈥淭hey are finding their own ways to make ends meet,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey have, therefore, developed a certain entrepreneurial spirit.鈥�

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Thanks to the for co-hosting the Perspectives from Pyongyang panel discussion at , and to Darcie Draudt ( for serving as rapporteur.

Jean H. Lee (), is director of the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy () at the 乐鱼 体育. As a journalist, she opened the AP news agency鈥檚 Pyongyang bureau in 2012.

The views expressed are the author's alone, and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government or the 乐鱼 体育. Copyright 2019, Asia Program. All rights reserved.