Advertisement

Inching from isolation

Reading Time:5 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0

The latest calamity for the secretive state of North Korea was a rail disaster on the border with China last month, when an explosion killed 161 people and injured more, the majority of them children. The world rushed to help with multi-million-dollar offers of emergency aid.

But for one aid worker with unparalleled access to North Korea, the greater struggle is raising funds for ongoing crises in the country, for problems that will plague the population for generations and that affect millions, rather than hundreds of people.

Kathi Zellweger, director of international co-operation at Catholic aid agency Caritas Hong Kong, has visited the reclusive nation five or six times a year over the past nine years and travelled widely within it, a rare concession in a country with such strict travel restrictions.

'These emergencies help to draw attention back to the country, but the really major issues are generally ignored, that millions are suffering from a serious shortage of food, antiquated medical facilities and poor infrastructure,' Ms Zellweger said.

On the morning of April 24, the day after the rail accident, Ms Zellweger contacted Jong Yun-hyong, the director of the North Korean government agency responsible for overseeing emergency situations, offering to send medical and emergency aid from Hong Kong. She received a response within hours.

For Ms Zellweger, the fact that the North Koreans responded so fast, and had led representatives of international aid agencies in Pyongyang up to the blast site, is a reflection of how far the country has come since she first started working there in 1995. 'There was a time when such events would have been dealt with more 'discreetly' and it would have taken much longer for aid agencies to have been informed,' she said.

Advertisement