Randal Eastman, a Canadian Rotarian living in Shanghai, is no stranger to working with the North Korean government.

Eastman’s work with the DPRK began in 2001, when he received a phone call from a North Korean official interested in acquiring a solar oven for a Pyongyang orphanage. A number of Rotary Clubs had for some time been involved in projects to send solar ovens to places with little electricity, and after two years of negotiations, the Shanghai Club was able to put together the funds to send a small team of Rotarians to install the first oven in Pyongyang.