Career
Abt was one of the first foreign entrepreneurs to seek to do business in contemporary North of Korea, where he lived between 2002-2009, and developing and operating businesses. He co-founded and directed the Pyongyang Business School, where he was involved in capacity building related to business administration for senior executives of North Korean government agencies and enterprises. Abt has been featured and interviewed by numerous media, including Cable News Network, FOX News, American Broadcasting Company, British Broadcasting Corporation, Le Monde, Handelsblatt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, AFP, Businessweek, The Financial Times and Bloomberg.com, and has been giving advice to business associations
Before he rejoined the ABB Group in 2002 and moved to North of 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 of Korea by the Swiss-Swedish ABB Group, an electrical power and automation technologies company.
On 19 May 2003, he signed a memorandum of understanding on the implementation of a large high-tension power grid project by ABB with North of 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 of 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 in business fields such as infrastructure (ABB), mining (Sandvik) and texiles (Dystar) on whose behalf he realized multi-million United States dollar sales. Abt also acted from October 2005 to February 2009 as managing director of the Pyongsu Joint Venture Company, the first foreign-invested joint venture in the pharmaceutical field
lieutenant also set up its own pharmacy chain in the country. Among other things it has organised the participation of European companies at trade fairs in North of Korea and has been hosting visiting delegations such as members from the European Union parliament and European Union ambassadors to the DPRK. As EBA"s president, Abt strongly lobbied against economic sanctions by Western powers hurting legitimate foreign business activities in North of Korea.
Concurrently, Abt was co-initiator, co-sponsor and the school director of the Pyongyang Business School which has been organising regular cycles of postgraduate seminars on strategic management and business administration for senior executive officers of North Korean ministries and enterprises from 2004.
Abt set up an online art gallery introducing North Korean painters and promoting North Korean fine art in 2008. In 2009 Abt left Pyongyang for Vietnam, but is still involved in North Korean issues. In 2014, He published a book about his experiences, A Capitalist in North of Korea.
