Our Team in Democratic People's Republic of Korea

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Mr. Joe Colombano of Italy as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He assumed his role on 1 March 2024 with the host Government’s approval.

Mr. Colombano has over 25 years of experience in international relations and negotiations on political and development issues with the multilateral system, including at Headquarters and in the field. Within the Organization, he served as Head of the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator to China in Beijing. He was previously with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General in New York for almost a decade, including as Director for Sustainable Development. In that role, he coordinated the office’s political strategy to facilitate the international agreement on the Sustainable Development Goals. He also served as Senior Advisor to the WHO Special Envoy for COVID-19 in Geneva.

An economist by training, Mr. Colombano built a career in development finance, first at the World Bank in Washington DC, and later in London, at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, including as Advisor to its Board of Directors. His field experience includes roles in the private sector in Bangkok, Thailand; with the Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa; in addition to many official missions to the countries of the Former Soviet Union.

Mr. Colombano is a member of the Advisory Council of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, MA. He is the author of “Learning from the World: New Ideas to Redevelop America” published by Palgrave McMillan, in addition to numerous academic papers on economic development and international affairs.

Mr. Colombano holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in the US, a Master’s in International Political Economy from the University of Warwick in the UK, and a Master of Laws in Chinese Law from the University of Hong Kong in China. He is married and has three daughters.

Dr. Alaka Singh assumed the responsibilities of WHO Representative, a.i. DPRK from 6 April 2025.

An Indian national, Dr. Singh has worked in health and development for over two decades. With WHO she has held positions at all three levels of the Organization, supporting countries in the South-East Asia as well as the African and Eastern Mediterranean Regions. Her technical experience has been focused on health systems, primary health care (PHC) and universal health coverage (UHC). She has led on several key WHO efforts in these areas, including development of the first Regional Strategy on Universal Health Coverage (2012-17) and, on a Regional agenda to advance PHC post-COVID. Dr. Singh has also worked with the Office of the Director General Dr. Margaret Chan at WHO HQ assisting with high-level discussions between the DG and Member States; and, as Deputy WHO Representative Myanmar, where she participated in the UN response to both the transition to democracy as well as the humanitarian emergency. Prior to joining the WHO Country Office for DPRK, Dr. Singh was WHO Representative to Sri Lanka (May 2021-March 2025). During this time, Dr. Singh led WHO’s support to Sri Lanka on COVID-19 and the following economic crisis and, subsequently, the recovery effort.

Prior to joining WHO, Dr. Singh worked for the World Bank in the New Delhi and Washington offices with the Health, Nutrition and Population cluster, participating in some of the first lending programmes for health systems in India.

Dr. Singh has led several international conferences, served on academic panels and been a referee for international journals. Her latest journal contribution was as Co-editor of the February 2021 issue of the South-East Asia Journal of Public Health that captures lessons learnt from the pandemic for strengthening PHC for UHC in the Region.

Dr. Singh has an educational background in health and development with a first degree from the Delhi University and advanced degrees from the College of William and Mary, Virginia, USA and Cambridge University, UK.

Mr. Carlos Aldeco took up his assignment as the FAO Representative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, based in Beijing where he also serves as FAO Representative to the People’s Republic of China on 17 February 2025. Mr. Aldeco is a seasoned diplomat with more than 20 years of professional experience in agricultural development, government relations and international trade. He is a skilled expert in forming strategic partnerships with national governments, research institutions, and the private sector.

Prior to joining FAO, Mr. Aldeco worked as the Chief Representative for China of the National Agricultural Council of Mexico since 2019. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the Minister Counsellor at the Mexican Embassy to China in Beijing, coordinating the development and implementation of all marketing, outreach and partnerships activities of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food of Mexico with China. From 2009 to 2014, he was the Chief of the Department of Trade Negotiations and Trade Agreements for the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), in Montevideo, Uruguay. From 2006 to 2009, he worked as the International Trade and Investment Analyst at the Mexican Embassy to Japan in Tokyo. His career started in 2003 at the Ministry of Economy of Mexico.

Mr. Aldeco, a national of Mexico, holds a Master of Business Administration from the Catholic University of Uruguay, a Master of Law (LLM) from Georgetown University in the United States of America, and a Bachelor’s Degree in international law from the University of the Americas Puebla in Mexico.

Mr. Christophe Bahuet (France) has been appointed as UNDP Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, effective 1 October 2020. From January 2019, he has been UNDP Resident Representative in Indonesia, and Country Director in the same country for the period 2015-2018.

His earlier assignments with UNDP included China, Vietnam, Ghana, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. Mr. Bahuet also worked in UNDP Headquarters in New York, in the Evaluation Office, and then in Partnership Bureau. Prior to joining UNDP, he was posted in the French Embassy in Yugoslavia.

Mr. Bahuet holds a Master’s Degree with Honours from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, a Diploma in Southeast Asian studies from the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations in Paris, a Law Degree, and a Degree in Slavic languages from the University of Bordeaux. He speaks French, English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and other Asian languages.

Kamolkhon, a national of Uzbekistan, is a development professional with over 25 years of experience spanning economics, international trade, and programme leadership. He began his career in 1999 at the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, specializing in macroeconomic analysis and foreign trade, before transitioning to the United Nations in 2008.

At the United Nations Development Programme, he was instrumental in developing and launching programs focused on Private Sector Development, Trade and Investment, and Aid Effectiveness.

In 2018, he joined the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Uzbekistan as the Assistant Representative. In this role, he led his team in supporting crucial national initiatives, from census preparations and demographic analysis to championing women’s empowerment and improving maternal health. In November 2024, he joined the UNFPA Country Office in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, currently serving as the Officer-in-charge.

Kamolkhon holds an MBA from the State University of New York at Binghamton and a Bachelor's degree in Finance from Tashkent State Technical University.

A national of Germany, Roland began his professional career as Research Scientist and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University in the United States.

He joined UNICEF in 2008 as public health nutritionist in the UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa in Dakar, Senegal.

He subsequently worked as a Senior Nutrition Adviser at UNICEF Headquarters, New York to guide UNICEF’s global work on adolescent and maternal nutrition. At the same time, he served in various organizational leadership roles, including as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Micronutrient Forum, Board of Directors of the Iodine Global Network, and Executive Management Team of the Food Fortification Initiative.

Roland moved to Bangkok in 2020 to serve as the UNICEF Regional Nutrition Adviser and to provide strategic support to UNICEF’s nutrition programs operating in 14 countries throughout East Asia and Pacific.

Roland holds a Doctor of Science degree in Nutrition and Epidemiology from Harvard University in the United States.

Samir Wanmali has taken up his role as the WFP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific as of November 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was serving as the Deputy Regional Director for Operations in for Asia and the Pacific since August 2023. Samir brings over 20 years of experience in food security analysis, programme and operations and has held leadership positions in country and regional offices as well as WFP headquarters.

Before moving to Asia and the Pacific, Samir served as the Deputy Director of the Programme Division in Rome (2018-2023), leading the design and development of WFP’s global programmatic activities during COVID. He was deployed as Country Director a.i. in the Central African Republic (2020) and Zimbabwe (2021) and was appointed as WFP Emergency Coordinator for the Ukraine response (2022).

Samir also served as the WFP Deputy Country Director and Country Director a.i. in Ethiopia (2015-2018), the Regional Head of Programme for the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (2011-2015), the Darfur Coordinator for WFP Sudan (2010-2011), and the Deputy Area Coordinator for WFP in South Darfur (2007-2011).

Samir began his WFP career as a Food Security and Livelihood Advisor in 2001 and led nation-wide WFP food security and livelihood assessments in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Colombia, Côte D’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Nepal.

Samir holds a B.A in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and an M.A. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. An Indian national, he speaks Hindi, Marathi, English, French and Italian.