Korea advice

I had such an interesting lunch with Heejoo, a South Korean student. She's doing the MPhil course in Conservation Leadership which takes place in our building and encourages the students to mix with us lot from various organisations.

Heejoo wants to work on conservation across both North and South Korea that bridges the two countries when peace returns. The Demilitarized Zone that separates the two is likely to contain some of the best surviving wildlife on the Korean Peninsula, so it's a worthy career goal even though we're very realistic that peace and cooperation may not come in our lifetimes.

I shared my experiences of working in a conflict setting in South Sudan and then we threw around some exciting ideas that involve her trying to gather interest among NGOs and academia when she heads home. She could start much more easily by working on the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone, doing wildlife surveys and community-centred conservation projects. If the countries ever unite, there wouldn't be the language or ethnic barrier that often neglects rural communities in remote places away from capitals. That's one thing in their favour at least. To make any progress, first Donal Chump will have to stop stoking the blood pressure of the North Korean government.

It would be stupendous to hear about how her career develops in the coming years. Go Heejoo.