Kathi Zellweger

Kathi Zellweger, a native of Switzerland, has spent nearly three decades engaging with North Korea, providing humanitarian aid to those in need. According to her book, "Miss Kathi: Saving Lives in North Korea", she played a central role in the early years of international relief efforts in the country. Zellweger's efforts saved the lives of thousands of people, mostly children.

Background

The book chronicles Zellweger's experiences as an aid worker in North Korea, including her visits to people struggling to survive the famine in the northern city of Sinuiju. In September 1998, Zellweger and Mary Healy, a nurse and midwife from the Irish NGO Trócaire, visited Sinuiju, which had been severely affected by the famine. The city, once an important industrial center, had become shabby and dilapidated.

The Famine's Impact

Zellweger's account describes the devastating impact of the famine on the people of Sinuiju. She visited the homes of several families, including Mrs. Kim, a 69-year-old woman who lived with her son, daughter-in-law, and six-month-old grandson. The family had not received rations from the Public Distribution System in six months and were struggling to survive. Zellweger also met Mr. Lee, a 71-year-old carpenter who had not received rations since February and was surviving by making furniture for people in the countryside in exchange for food.

Characteristics of the Famine

The examples of the Kim and Lee families highlighted two important characteristics of the famine in North Korea. The epicenter of the famine was in urban areas, where more than two-thirds of the population lived. Unlike farmers in the countryside, who could grow some food on small private plots, urban residents had no such option and were forced to rely on the Public Distribution System, which had collapsed. The result was unprecedented hunger in what had been a relatively well-developed modern industrial society.

Survival Mechanisms

For the families Zellweger visited, bartering was a crucial survival mechanism. Urban residents traded items of value for food grown by farmers in private family garden plots, which became the foundation for the broader development of markets. As Zellweger traveled around the country, she saw people selling everything from buns to cigarettes to vegetables to live fish. The emergence of these markets was a sensitive political issue, as it posed a challenge to state control and ideology. The government officials accompanying Zellweger were visibly uncomfortable with the presence of these markets, and the trend only accelerated with the creation of larger markets, especially in or near urban areas. According to Zellweger, some people were spending up to 80 percent of their salary just to purchase vegetables, highlighting the dire situation faced by many North Koreans.