HONG KONG — For nearly a quarter-century, Swiss aid worker Kathi Zellweger traveled to one of the world's most closed-off countries, delivering food, seeds and medical supplies while quietly documenting life far beyond the polished image North Korea presents to the outside world.

Now, previously unseen footage she captured during those years is offering a rare look inside the isolated nation, from the hardship of the 1990s famine to the gradual changes that reshaped its capital in more recent years.

The footage was featured in a CNN report, "The Secret Lives of North Korea," presented by correspondent Will Ripley and released last week. The 15-minute video draws on Zellweger's personal recordings, which capture private moments and parts of the country few outsiders have ever seen.

Zellweger made 75 trips to North Korea, beginning with her first visit in 1995, shortly before a devastating famine swept the country, and ending with her final trip in December 2019.

She first became involved through Caritas, the Catholic humanitarian and development agency, where she worked for nearly 30 years at its Hong Kong office and played a key role in pioneering the organization's work in China and North Korea. As director of international operations, she oversaw food aid to North Korea during the famine.

From 2006 to 2011, she lived in Pyongyang as country director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, making her one of very few Westerners to........

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