At the monthly virtual lunch talk of the independent evaluation unit (IEU) of Green Climate Fund (GCF) in May, Doug Watkins, Chief Executive of the East Asian Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) Secretariat, and Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) in Korea, spoke about biodiversity in the context of the omnipresent problems of climate change in North Korea.

Forestry makes a major contribution to the regeneration of the earth, especially in the field of environmental protection. As reforestation has been a present topic in South Korea for the last 60 years and has been implemented in the context of continuous cooperation with worldwide organizations, South Korea now wants to share its knowledge and resources with North Korea in the best possible way in order to enable debate and progress in the north of the Korean peninsula. The planned Centre for Inter-Korean Cooperation in the Forestry Sector is expected to make a significant contribution to this effort.

The island of Songdo, seat of numerous international organizations, is home to many long-standing partners of the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) in Korea. On May 25 Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of HSF in Korea, Felix Glenk and Isabelle Winter from HSF visited Songo to discuss with the partners current and future cooperations.

The pandemic has left extreme damage in almost every country, whether in a social or economic sense. Nowadays, effects are constantly discussed in the media and can be easily accessed by everyone, except when it comes to the information regarding North Korea. Therefore, the National Committee for North Korea (NCNK) organized a virtual round table where Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Korea, and other experts could exchange information about the current economic situation in North Korea.

Media and press freedom, along with other fundamental rights, is one of the most hotly debated issues in relation to the autocratic state of North Korea today. Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) in Korea, was invited by the University of Applied Sciences for Media, Communication and Management in Cologne to give a “Zoom” lecture on the current situation in North Korea.

On 19 May 2020 Mr Wonjung Lee, General director of Hananuri and Dr Martin Cho, Executive director of the Academy of Northeast Asian Studies, Hananuri, visited HSF Korea to discuss cooperation related to activities on the Korean Peninsula, and particularly in Rason.

On Thursday, May 28th at 4pm (KST) Doug Watkins, Chief Executive of EAAFP and Dr. Bernhard Seliger, Resident Representative of HSF, will be participating in the monthly IEU Virtual Talk, organized by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The topic of the event is “Climate change and biodiversity-related action in DPR Korea: Challenges and opportunity”

On 15 May, Dr. Bernhard Seliger and Felix Glenk took part in the expert meeting organised by UNESCAP and spoke about cross-border cooperation in the protection of wetlands in the Tumen estuary. Present were representatives from South Korea, China and Russia.

The forest fires of the past two years in the inner-Korean border area had devastating effects on nature. The divided county of Goseong, partner county of Hanns Seidel Foundation in Korea (HSF) since 2005, was particularly affected. HSF, which has been supporting reforestation especially in North Korea for many years, will help with a model reforestation of a mixed forest in the area dominated by pine forests. On this occasion they visited the district in mid-May and congratulated the District Administrator Ham, who took office in a by-election at the same time as the election of the National Assembly.

Climate change is an omnipresent, global problem and therefore one of the crucial issues of the century, the effects of which even North Korea cannot protect itself from. In order to raise awareness in this context, SNU Law School has invited Dr. Bernhard Seliger to give a zoom lecture on the current situation in North Korea as part of the Juris Doctorate Program.

On May 12, Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of Hanns Seidel Foundation in Korea (HSF), visited the long-term partner Prof. Dr. Ralph Wrobel at Dong-A University in Busan to maintain the existing partnership and discuss future projects in times after the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 6th of May, Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of Hanns Seidel Foundation in Korea (HSF), participated in a new series of webinars, regarding the current situation on the Korean peninsula.