Katharina Zellweger is a long-term resident of Hong Kong, where she manages the organization KorAid Limited. She established this NGO in 2015 to focus on children in institutions and those with disabilities in North Korea and China, with a vision to later engage in other projects.
Zellweger is currently also a Visiting Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University in California. Prior to this, from November 2011 to August 2013, she was the Pantech Fellow in Korean Studies at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center in residence at Stanford University, where she taught the course "An Insight into North Korean Society" to graduate and undergraduate students.
Zellweger is a senior aid manager with over 30 years of field experience in Hong Kong, China and North Korea. From 2006 to 2011, she was based in Pyongyang at the North Korea Country Director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), an office of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The focus of her work for the SDC was on sustainable agricultural production to address food security needs, income generation to improve people's livelihoods,and capacity development to contribute to individual and institutional learning.
Zellweger has a master's degree in International Administration, which she received from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont.