Felix Abt
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Felix Abt (born 15 January 1955, Switzerland) is a Swiss business affairs specialist on
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
and
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. Abt was one of the first foreign entrepreneurs to seek to do business in contemporary
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
, where he lived between 2002 and 2009, and developing and operating businesses. He co-founded and directed the Pyongyang Business School, where he was involved in
capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...
related to business administration for senior executives of North Korean government agencies and enterprises. Abt published a memoir titled ''A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom'' in 2014.


Career

Before he rejoined the
ABB Group ABB Ltd. is a Swedish- Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to crea ...
in 2002 and moved to North Korea, Felix Abt had been working from 1990 for companies in countries and regions such as Vietnam, the Middle East and Africa. In 2002, Abt was appointed resident Group Representative in North Korea by the Swiss-Swedish ABB Group, an
electrical power Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions o ...
and
automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
technologies Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
company. On 19 May 2003, he signed a memorandum of understanding on the
implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy. Industry-specific definitions Computer science In computer science, an implementation is a real ...
of a large high-tension
power grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...
project by ABB with North Korea's Ministry of Power and Coal Industries, in presence of the Swiss foreign minister, the Swedish ambassador to the DPRK, and the Minister of Power and Coal Industries, "in an effort to solve North Korea's serious problems in the power sector, highlighted by its worn-out generation and transmission facilities". In late 2003, Abt became an agent of several
multinational corporations A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
in business fields such as infrastructure (ABB), mining (
Sandvik Sandvik AB is a Swedish multinational engineering company specializing in metal cutting, digital and additive manufacturing, mining and construction, stainless and special steel alloys, and industrial heating. The company was founded in Swed ...
) and textiles ( Dystar) on whose behalf he realized multi-million USD sales. Abt also acted from October 2005 to February 2009 as
managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of the Pyongsu Joint Venture Company, the first foreign-invested joint venture in the pharmaceutical field. During this period it became the first North Korean pharmaceutical factory to reach international quality standard (called
Good Manufacturing Practice Current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) are those conforming to the guidelines recommended by relevant agencies. Those agencies control the authorization and licensing of the manufacture and sale of food and beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceut ...
or GMP) certified by the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
and the first North Korean company to win contracts against international competitors. It also set up its own pharmacy chain in the country. Abt was the founding president of the
European Business Association European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...
(EBA) in Pyongyang, set up on 28 April 2005, a de facto European Chamber of Commerce. Among other things, the EBA has organized the participation of European companies at trade fairs in North Korea and has been hosting visiting delegations such as members from the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
parliament and EU ambassadors to the DPRK. As EBA's president, Abt strongly lobbied against
economic sanctions Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they ma ...
by Western powers hurting legitimate foreign business activities in North Korea. Concurrently, Abt established the Pyongyang Business School. The school has organized regular cycles of
postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and ...
seminars on strategic management and business administration for senior executive officers of North Korean ministries and enterprises from 2004. Together with Volker Eloesser, Abt was a co-founder/investor of the first foreign-invested software
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
by the name of Nosotek, established in 2007. Abt set up an online art gallery introducing North Korean
painters Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
and promoting North Korean
fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...
in 2008. In 2009 Abt left Pyongyang for
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, but is still involved in North Korean issues. In 2014, he published a book about his experiences, ''A Capitalist in North Korea''. Because of his investment strategies in North Korea, Abt has been called a "controversial figure" and a member of a "secretive group of Western investors" in North Korea. The investors, including Abt, use a strategy called " China Plus One" where a company "can still claim that the products were 'Made in China," says Abt, if less than 50 percent of the product is made in North Korea. For example, the highest-paid factory workers in North Korea earn $75/month compared to the lowest paid in China at $270/month. The product can still be labeled "Made in China", and thus exportable to countries around the world when using the "China Plus One" strategy. This strategy has been criticized for exploiting laborers in North Korea who experience human rights violations.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abt, Felix 1955 births Economy of North Korea Living people Swiss businesspeople Swiss expatriates in North Korea Swiss expatriates in Vietnam Place of birth missing (living people)