Teacher's Day in Korea

Several years ago I was asked to submit a chapter to a book, the title was going to be something like "My favorite teacher." This seems to be an early draft of what I wrote:



* * *

Back in the day, I was the co-editor of my high school newspaper. For 2 years, I also wrote a monthly column, "Casey's Corner."

Whenever I sold the paper, I offered two versions of the same edition:

Unsigned by me: $.25
Signed by me: $.50

I got very few takers for the signed copies. In fact, some felt that I would be damaging the paper by putting my autograph on it, so I should charge them less than $.25.

People who think I'm arrogant now should have met me in my younger days! "If I were you," I'd confidently tell people as I signed the column, often against their will after they refused to pay $.50, "I'd save that paper. It only cost you $.25 today. But it is going to be worth millions of dollars one day."

As I said, I got very few takers (thanks Ralph! You too, Claudine!).

No one ever asked me if I was saving signed copies myself...

* * *

I had my first ever book signing in 2003. It was for the release of the book, Educational Freedom in Urban America. C-SPAN even came out to cover it.

Here's the link to the book forum. I've heard that it will be on C-SPAN within the next few weeks. That would be my second time to be featured on C-SPAN. The other time I was scheduled to debate DC delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, but she canceled that morning, allowing me to talk for 30 or 40 minutes without opposition.

I was praised by just about everyone at the event, including Secretary of Education Rod Paige. We were talking quite a bit at that time, I was delighted when he accepted my invitation to speak at the event.

After the event, I walked upstairs to the luncheon. Then someone walked over to me, holding the book, and asked the magical question that I wasn't expecting: "Could you sign my book?"

I've been at many book forums, at which I've gotten autographs from other people. But it was my turn. I signed it. Then several others approached me, pen in hand. I realized that I didn't have any cool lines or philosophical sayings ready. I guess that I'll have to edit or write another book...

* * *

It is sad that I can't share this with the teachers who had a major influence on getting me into writing. I vividly recall the day that my 9th grade English teacher slipped me a note at the end of class one day near the end of the year. It was more of an order than a request: "You are a great writer. Go see the journalism teacher. I've signed you up for the school paper."

So that was it. She believed that I should be on the paper. I remember walking to the office, dazed, and reading the note over and over again, to sign up for journalism as an elective. I can't say that I was entirely surprised. I enjoyed writing. I recall entertaining my classmates with my stories during creative writing time. I guess that Ms. Robertson, who I had a crush on, was really chuckling, too.

But I hadn't really considered joining the paper, it just seemed that other people did that. A few years ago, I called, then later stopped by the first high school attended. The folks there couldn't recall a Ms. Robertson and said that they couldn't locate any records. I guess that it would have helped if I could have recalled her first name. To me, she was Ms. Robertson, so I may not have ever known. I'll be going back home this summer, so I'll try again, this time, with her name that I've gotten from an old yearbook.

* * *

Although I can be rough in many ways when dealing with people, I tend to be a softie when young people come to me, asking for advice. I can remember Mrs. Robertson giving me advice, so I hope some of them can tell a positive story about me one day.

Of course, I also give advice to some who may not be looking for any. They may also say something nice about me one day.


*

Ms. Robertson was the first to get me thinking about a career in writing. The journalism teacher at the second high school that I attended was my true mentor.

My family moved a few miles to a new home. Due to the wonder of school zones, I transferred from a predominately black to a predominately white high school. My basketball skills seemed to improve overnight, but my class ranking went down in the process.

I was brand new to the school, but the new journalism teacher, Mrs. Flowers, quickly offered me a spot as a columnist on the school paper. I believe that it was because of our early creative writing assignments. I had suggested, in one of the assignments, that we change the name of the paper from "Viking Venture." I had wanted something more action-oriented, like "Viking Invaders!"

I hadn't thought about it at the time, but I now realize just how bold that may have been for her to name me a columnist. I was the only black student on the paper. I was brand new to the school. She was also brand new to the school, having replaced a very popular journalism teacher who also wrote a column for the local paper. I wasn't a particularly great student. I'm sure that I aced two classes during my high school years--P.E. and Journalism. I'd bet anyone an adverb for lunch that I had serious grammar problems at that time. Plus, I was relatively quiet. Worst of all, I wasn't a senior, which for anyone who has ever been a senior knows how important that is.

Yet, there I was, sounding off on various issues every month on page 2 of the school paper. In addition, I also wrote news and was advertising manager of the paper. I loved my job as advertising manager. I seemed to be a great salesman for the paper, preferring to visit local businesses rather than just calling or mailing them. As advertising manager, I had the freedom to write and to shake down local businesses for ads. But if I knew then what I know now! To boost our advertising budget, I would have threatened to write negative articles on businesses that didn't advertise in the paper...

* * *

The next year, I was made co-editor and resumed writing my column. There apparently was some controversy about my becoming co-editor. Some of the black students and even some of my relatives thought that I should have been editor-in-chief, and they complained that I might have been discriminated against. The reality is that Mrs. Flowers had talked me into taking the position. I just enjoyed writing, I wasn't interested in managing others.

Through it all, Mrs. Flowers was my biggest fan. My girlfriend at the time was probably a close second. After that . . . did I mention that Mrs. Flowers and my girlfriend at the time were my biggest fans?

In college, I joined the school paper. I sent some of my first articles to Mrs. Flowers. She praised me, she seemed to be overjoyed, but I also recall that she wanted to correct my grammar problems and to talk about how I could have better phrased some sentences. She was always teaching me, while praising me and letting me know that even though I had done well, I could always do better.

I went on to have my own sports column when I was in college. I remember calling Mrs. Flowers and telling her that I was no longer "Casey's Corner." I had graduated on to "Casey at the Bat." She cried when I called to let her know that I was graduating from college.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Flowers passed away while I was overseas, so I never saw her again after high school. I wasn't able to share with her when, as a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, I finally got published in big-time papers like USA Today, the Washington Post, and Education Week. Years later, BlackMenInAmerica.com asked me to write a monthly column. The owner of the site suggested, "Why don't we call it Casey's Corner?"  I told him he was a genius, and I wrote it for about two years.

I'm sure that Mrs. Flowers would have enjoyed my first book. She probably would have even humored me by asking me for my autograph after redlining typos or pointing out sentences that I could have written in a better way...

CJL



If I were you, I'd save this post...

Memories of the Mayflower

I love Charles Ramsey. the man who helped rescue the young ladies who had been abducted for a decade. What caught my attention is that he ran into the house to save the ladies, not sure what to expect. The alleged kidnappers could have been armed and ready to hide their crimes.


* * *

August 25, 2004

A few days ago I was in front of the Mayflower Hotel, and I do what I always do when I'm there--I look at the area down the street where for one of the few times in my life I risked my life for someone else.

The inside of the Mayflower Hotel.

It was New Year's Eve, I had just returned from my first visit to South Korea. My best friend and I were hanging out with his roommate, party-hopping. As we drove through one neighborhood we heard some people celebrating the New Year by shooting with guns. Apparently they weren't shooting at anyone or anything in particular, just shooting in the air. When we lost contact with his roommate at some point during the night, we started taking cabs from place to place.

Somewhat stranded at 1 a.m. when it got tougher to hail cabs, we stopped at the Mayflower Hotel to call our girlfriends as well as my best friend's roommate, hoping he would eventually answer his beeper. Wait. I wrote beeper? Yep, that was back in the day.

We went back outside of the hotel to consider our options. We weren't that far from my friend's home, so walking wasn't out of the question. Suddenly, a guy came running, yelling:

"HEY! THERE'S A WOMAN BEING BEATEN DOWN THE STREET."

There were about six or seven well-dressed guys in front of the Mayflower. We all looked at each other, stunned. Is this some kind of joke, was the look on all of our faces.

The guy yelled again: "COME ON!!!"

All at once, all of us took off running, following him. To watch a beating? To stop it? I didn't really know as I ran along with them. But I had a flashback to a scene in the movie Glory, when Denzel Washington's character yells at the other members of the 54th, "Come on!" He was shot a few seconds later.

It seemed like we had run for five minutes, but when I stop at the Mayflower these days I see that it was a very short distance, less than a block. As we got closer, sure enough, we saw that there was a guy kicking a woman. The woman was in the fetal position, trying to defend herself from the attacks as the guy kicked away.

We were bearing down on the kicker, ready to use him as a tackle dummy. Suddenly, someone ran right up and tackled the kicker onto the pavement. The rest of us then jumped on the kicker and held him down.

I don't recall if anyone said, "search him," but several of us did, worried that he might have a gun or a knife. It turned out that one of my fellow rescuers did have a gun. After wishing the cops would show up quickly, I suddenly was hoping the cops wouldn't show up just yet. I remember thinking, wouldn't this make for an interesting picture? Several black men, including one who was armed, roughing up a white guy as his girlfriend, bruised and crying, stands nearby. A moment before I was wondering where the cops were. I was hoping real hard that the cops wouldn't show up. I later thought that if someone had turned on a video camera, they would have recorded several black men roughing up a lone skinny white guy. We could have been portrayed as blacks angry at the Rodney King beating or something else equally as dumb.

My best friend, who was then working as a reporter, ran back to the hotel to call the police. And the New York Times. And the Wall Street Journal. And the Washington Post, the Washington Times. That was a decade ago, but today, all of us would have whipped out our cell phones and called the police. We then took the woman, who was sporting a black eye and a couple of other bruises, to the Mayflower hotel so the kicker couldn't get at her again. We were talking trash to the guy the whole time, pushing him around. "What kind of chump are you, beating on a woman? Aren't you embarrassed that some black guys had to stop you from beating on a woman? You must be some kind of a damned coward. I bet you wouldn't be willing to take any of us on. Take your pick of any of us. How would you like it if we all started kicking you now?"

The kicker was furious at us for stopping him. He was cursing up a storm, threatening to kill the woman. We finally let him stand up, but two or three of us had to tackle him again because he immediately tried to bum rush the woman. I really wanted to beat his ass, but then, I remember thinking that the woman could turn against us and accuse us of beating up her boyfriend or husband.

Of course, the Mayflower hotel staff didn't want to let us in. I suspect they often see such episodes. It probably looked kind of strange. Several well-dressed black men trying to protect a white woman from her white boyfriend. It was obvious that they didn't want to get involved. The HNIC, a big burly black guy, showed up a few minutes later. We definitely could have used his help a few minutes earlier, if not to fight, then just to sit on the kicker. But based on his response, we wouldn't have gotten it. He agreed to let the woman come inside, but he didn't want the rest of us to come in. He got rude with us, making it seem that we were the problem. Fine.

Well, it wasn't fine. We got kind of loud with them when we they got rude with us. "If this guy kills this woman, the blood will be on your hands." "Do you think it will be good advertising for your hotel if this is reported in the papers?" "You have to call the police. They'll come if you call." In particular, the manager singled out my friend, who apparently had yelled at the hotel people for not calling the police. As far as I know, they never did call the police.

It turned that I shouldn't have been worried about the police showing up as we held the guy down. First, ten minutes went by. Then twenty minutes. After thirty minutes, the kicker gave up trying to get past us to get to the woman in the hotel, he just took off walking down the street. He suddenly returned about 15 or 20 minutes later, with us still guarding the front of the Mayflower hotel. I wanted to frisk the kicker again, worried he may have returned with a weapon.

The first vehicle to show up was a fire truck. Finally, after more than an hour, one lone officer, a fat white guy, drove up. It was New Year's Eve, so I guess they were kind of busy, perhaps dealing with people shooting in the air. We were in a good area, so I'm sure some woman being beaten or raped in a bad neighborhood would have been waiting even longer for a police response.

The cop wasn't particularly friendly to us in the beginning, making me worry that the hotel people had called the police after all, giving their version of the incident. The cop talked to the woman, talked to the kicker, and finally he talked to us. The first thing he then said to us: "She doesn't want to press charges."

"WHAT????"

Suddenly we were really angry. We went to the woman. "We risked our lives to stop your boyfriend from using you as a football, and now you don't want to press charges?"

Her response: "Oh, he gets like that sometimes. He doesn't mean it."

We were all talking to her at once: "You've got to be kidding?" "Well what's he like when he does mean it?" "Has he done this before?" "Have you pressed charges before?" "Do you live with him now?" "Do you have someone else you can stay with?" "If you don't do something now, you'll end up dead." My best friend, the reporter, then said that he wanted to press charges against the kicker. The guy must have been through this before because he didn't seem to be concerned that she would press charges.

After spending a few minutes telling the kicker that he'd better straighten up his act, the cop turned soft on us. "Look, guys, I've seen this too often. The guy gets drunk, beats the girl, we get called, she doesn't want to press charges. If they're married, the woman gets angry at us. Or if the woman is beating the man, he doesn't want to admit it. I could try to take this guy in for disturbing the peace, but he'd be out in the morning anyway. And he'd be angrier. I'll take her home, give her a contact number, write up a report."

He took our names and contact numbers so we could be witnesses in case the woman changed her mind. I left D.C. a few days later and never got called. I checked with my best friend, but he was angry. Not only had the cop not called, he said, but a Washington Post columnist had changed some of the facts of the story, so that the tackler was shabbily dressed and that just suddenly "disappeared." Neither one of us recalled the guy allegedly fighting the kicker. He tackled him just as we ran up to the scene. We didn't recall the guy asking, "What took you guys so long?" My best friend didn't like the way the story was written and complained directly to the columnist. Apparently the story about a shabbily dressed black man was just too good to pass. The Mayflower people definitely deserved to get singled out for not being more helpful.

The fire truck and the cop drove off. The rest of us stood outside talking for a few minutes, talking about how messed up the world and people can be. Just like that, the night was over. I think we ended up walking back to my best friend's place, although I don't recall now.

CJL

The Washington Post
January 8, 1994
A Hero Shatters A Stereotype by Dorothy Gilliam

Donald Jones won't forget New Year's Eve very soon, for along with attending a formal ball at the Mayflower Hotel, an annual event for him and his wife, he also learned an important lesson from a young black man dressed in baggy jeans and a knit cap.

As Jones, a black Washington lawyer, was leaving the dance at 2 a.m. on his way to get his car, he saw a white man about a half-block from the hotel abusing a woman who appeared to be his wife or significant other, shouting and kicking her as she lay on the ground.

While Jones's first impulse was to run to the scene and see if he could stop the attack, he decided instead to try to alert the police. After waiting a few crucial moments, he gathered a group of people to help the woman when police were slow to arrive.

By contrast, a young man who had been driving south on Connecticut Avenue NW quickly jumped out of his car to confront the assailant. The abuser then angrily turned on the young man, but the passerby's intervention almost certainly saved the woman from greater injury.

"When I first heard the yelling and saw them fighting, my first impulse was to run to the scene," Jones said. "But then, because I've heard of too many people being killed doing that, I decided to call the police. Only when others got involved did I take direct action."

By comparison, Jones said, the young man didn't know what he would face, but he got involved anyway.

Jones believes the young man's efforts to aid a woman in distress were "heroic," and he would like to see him step forward and get his due.

His behavior challenged many stereotypes. This young man turned out to be a savior of people who might be frightened if they met him on a street at that time of the morning.

Jones reasons that in this blood-washed city -- better known for people being fearful of getting involved than for being willing to put themselves on the line to help another person -- this young man set an example that too few of us are willing to follow.

Jones remembers his own thinking that night. As he went to call police, he said, he was hoping the assailant would realize that he had gone too far and stop, "but he didn't."

That is why, a few minutes later, Jones began rounding up several people to try to stop the assault.

As he swung into action, Jones said, he felt "exhilarated." But that exhilaration was chilled as quickly as the temperature when he saw that the lone young man, facing an assailaint who had stripped down to his shirt in 20-degree weather, was fending off the attacker and shielding blows that might have landed on the woman.

As the woman moaned, "He really hurt me," the young man in jeans and knit cap turned to Don Jones in his tuxedo and the other men surrounding him and said, "What took you guys so long? You guys are late."

Before Jones could recover and say much, or even get the young man's name, like a New Year's apparition, the guy pulled his knit cap over his ears, got into his car and drove off.

"I think it was remarkable with what's going on in this city that a young African American male would get out of his car and risk his life to help a woman being attacked in a domestic dispute," Jones said.

Jones is right. Too often in life we do not stand up and do what is necessary. We see a child being slapped or verbally abused in public, and we walk on by. We hear a scream in the night and pretend we did not.

It is the Kitty Genovese syndrome, only more intense because violence has increased since 1964, when the 28-year- old was fatally stabbed on a New York street and 38 witnesses did nothing.

Sadly, it has become remarkable for someone to stand up in a risky situation. It is an act of courage to be, at a minimum, admired, and at a maximum, emulated.

* * *

I posted this in 2004 in response to something one of my Internet buddies at the time wrote:

Avery Tooley asks today, after reading a post by Jared:

1. Would you/ have you ever intervened in a domestic situation involving strangers?

I have done that, as I'll explain below.

2. Would you be more or less likely to do so if the woman were beating the man?

I guess it would depend on the circumstances. He might be willing to let his woman beat him, but he might want to come after me for clocking her to get her off him.

Shin Dong Hyuk music video

I will be the guest moderator of a 10 Magazine book forum with author Blaine Harden about the book Escape from Camp 14.
The book is about Shin Dong-Hyuk, an escapee from North Korea.
now, there is an even a music video by Ooberfuse featuring Shin, titled "Vanish the Night."



Shin Dong-Hyuk escaped North Korea.
There's an international best-selling book about him...
now, a music video.

Canada is sticking marbles up Kim Jung-un's butt

In a "man-bites-dog" story that news editors and bloggers love, North Korea and Iran attacked Canada’s human rights record at UN forum. A few thoughts:

1) North Korea and Iran are correct! Canada does have problems and it may have some legitimate human rights abuses. Even some "First Nation" people in Canada went to Geneva to complain about Canada's human rights record.

North Korea and Iran making that point is similar to the Soviet Union attacking America in the past about the treatment of black Americans. It was the moral equivalency game--"Oh, sure, we keep 98 percent of our population enslaved to the state. But look at what you are doing to 12 percent of your population."

So, yes, North Korea and Iran are correct. But it brings to mind something Jesse Jackson used to say: "Content without context is pretext."

Meaning, information without context doesn't tell us very much. Or as economists like to ask: "Compared to what?"

If you say that Canada has a lousy human rights record, well, compared to what? Compared to North Korea? Iran? Compared to what Geneva says it should be?

* * *

By the way, it was a good thing that the Soviets made that claim, that is probably the only real contribution those Commie bastards make to humanity.

2) Yes, I know that some idiot may quote me as saying North Korea and Iran are correct without the context.

To be clear, I regard the point from North Korea and Iran with the same level of seriousness as I regard a professional conspiracy theorist. They may make a good point occasionally and may even connect the dots about something evil a government is doing or has done. But then, as soon as they finish saying something that makes sense, they will next tell you that the government is sticking iPods up their butts.

Chang Ha-Joon

3) North Korea and Iran are also playing the Chang Ha-Joon foolish consistency game. Things are either true 100 percent of the time or they are not true. That's one of the games Chang played in his wildly popular book "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism."


After all: Who can say that Canada has no human rights abuses? Governments do all kinds of evil things. Even some people from Canada are denouncing the country's human rights record. That means, according to North Korea and Iran, that Canada has human rights abuses.

A child who steals a candy bar and a terrorist who kills innocent people are both criminals, using Chang's "all-or-nothing" reasoning.


What happens to North Koreans in North Korea who denounce the country's human rights record? That's what hard labor, gulags and public executions are for! Destroy those people and North Korea no longer has a human rights problem.

In Canada? First Nation people get welfare and government support. If they play this human rights issue well, they may even get their airfare and other expenses paid for by the Canadian government (if they aren't already doing so) to travel to Geneva to complain about Canada's human rights record.

If I were in charge of propaganda in North Korea or Iran, I would invite a First Nation chief from Canada to tour the country, giving speeches about Canada's awful human rights record.

And then there is the final question: How many North Koreans would move to Canada and how many Canadians would go to North Korea if they did an Unsatisfied Citizen Exchange Program?

Monster Meeting Tips

There are some websites telling organizers how to put together a good rally or demonstration. But in my search I didn't come across tips for people who participate in rallies.

So here are some tips that I'm putting together now (will updated whenever an idea comes to me).


Participate: Be a participant, not an attendee. This is an importance difference. An attendee watches. A participant gets involved, is part of the event, makes it better than it would have been.

Recruit: The cheesiest pickup line is probably, "Hey, baby, what's your sign?" At tonight's rally, participants can use a similar line: "Hey, baby, what's your sign--and, wanna hold this protest sign?"

Invite others: some will join the rally when asked. Even if they don't join, they can't say that no one asked them to join. It will give them something to talk about, then one day when they are watching the news or reading, they'll remember that they were invited to join an event.

Represent: don't embarrass your cause. Bill Gates came to Korea with smiles and the best of intentions, then got denounced in crazy Korean Netizen land for the quality of his handshake. So remember that hypersensitive people and opponents will use any and everything against you.

Have fun: As Emma Goldman has been attributed with saying: "If I can't dance, then I don't want to join your revolution." We will be dealing with a sensitive issue, but that doesn't mean that it must be treated like a funeral. At least we can express joy about those North Koreans who have successfully escaped.

Cheer wildly: Whenever a speaker is introduced, them applaud or cheer. Some speakers are nervous and need encouragement. Even if the speaker makes a dumb joke, laugh. At tonight's rally, speakers have been ordered to keep it brief, so don't worry, they will run out of time quickly.

Chant slogans: Whenever the rally organizers or speakers ask you to do something, please do it. If they ask you to chant, do so. If they ask you to sing, sing louder than anyone else.

Chant my name: Yes, this one is important. Whenever I speak at a rally, and you happen to be a participant, don't forget to chant my name. Ladies, it is okay to scream my name--just pretend that I am Will Smith or some cute K-pop idol.

Be understanding: the rally organizers of this particular rally are all professional people with full-time jobs. Organizing rallies is not something that they do very often. So everything may not go according to schedule and some speakers may get moved by the spirits and talk too long.

Be clean: if someone hands you a flyer at the rally, either trash it in a garbage can (okay, there are only 4 in all of Seoul) or put it in your bag, purse or pocket. But don't trash it at the rally area--when your rally is over, it should appear that nothing had happened there.

Arrive as early as possible: it helps to have more than just the rally organizers present at the beginning. Many worry that no one will show up, so a few friendly faces can help them relax as they deal with last-minute problems. Offer to help. But even just standing around is valuable for a rally, the more, the merrier.

Join whenever you can: There is no such thing as being late to a rally. Some others may have left early. Plus, you can help cleanup.

Don't be shy: You are part of a rally. That's not the time to hide. Let people know that you are happy and proud to be a part of this moment.

Mood Music: On the way to the rally, listen to whatever music that gets you revved up. In my case, it is the dance mix of "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince, from the movie "Purple Rain." Or "Shut 'em down" by Public Enemy, turned up so I can't hear anything else.

 *****************************************************************************

* Tomorrow I will be speaking (briefly) at the "Road to Life" rally in support of North Koreans trying to escape from North Korea. But don't blink, because all of the speakers have been asked to limit their remarks.

Of course, I am sure that I will be the only one to speak briefly.

* I am scheduled to speak at 7:55 or 8:20. Things could have been even better--I was invited to perform with a music group, but because of my lack of availability lately, I couldn't get away to practice with them.

We had also considered doing a role play--I volunteered to pretend to be Dennis Rodman.

But again, too busy lately to get together to get it done..


* * *

Blaise Pascal once wrote: "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter." A month ago, when I was at TED, they asked if anyone wanted to make a three minute speech. A three-minute speech? Hey, I need time to prepare to be that precise. On the other hand, if they had asked for someone to speak for 30 minutes? No problem! I've been preparing my whole professional life for that.

So my speech tomorrow will be brief. I am thinking about what to say because I must be precise, the host organizers will want the microphone back quickly and will try to grab it if I take a breath.

* * *

Several years ago I was interviewed on 1500 WTOP in Washington, DC. I believe that it is one of the biggest radio stations in the area. I was told that I would be on for two minutes. So I prepared five minutes of material, and talked until they interrupted me because they HAD to go to a commercial.

* * *

* On Friday from 5:30, I will be moderating a discussion with Blaine Harden, the author of the book Escape from Camp 14 about North Korean escapee Shin Dong-Hyuk. I attended a conference in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 2012. Shin and Harden were both speaking--but I missed the speech to attend at a protest in front of the Chinese embassy instead. I finally got to hear Shin this past July at a 10 Magazine event. I met him in February 2012 at a different conference. When I heard about his story, I suggested that he should write a book.

Shin Dong-Hyuk, Casey Lartigue, July 2012

Haha! The book by Harden was just about to come out, an international best-seller, translated into numerous languages.

So at last, I will get to hear Harden directly, as the moderator of the event.

* * *

I know that many people fear public speaking. I think it was Winston Churchill who was credited with saying something like: There are two things every young man is afraid of. One is asking a beautiful woman out on a date. Two, giving a speech in public.

But I love it. It is always a good chance to tell people what I think about things. Like blogging to a live audience...

* * *

Here is the petition asking the Chinese government to end the repatriation of North Korean escapees.

Casey

Casey Lartigue quoted (at length) by NK News

On Expertise and Ethics: Tourism in North Korea

Does visiting North Korea as a tourist provide any useful insight?

by Alexander James , April 27, 2013

     

   

In the words of Hong Yin-chel, Head of the Publicity Bureau for North Korea’s National Tourism Administration, “tourists from the whole world” are now welcome in North Korea. Notwithstanding Mr. Hong’s enthusiasm, North Korea remains a rather niche destination for holiday makers. Receiving just 75-80,000 tourists in 2011 (in contrast, nearly ten million tourists visited South Korea that year) nuclear weaponry, rather than sightseeing, still characterizes North Korea in the eyes of many.

So who actually goes to North Korea on holiday? Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of tourists are Chinese. Said to be lured by “the popularity of movies and songs from the DPRK in their youth,” North Korea’s appeal is more likely to be couched in its affordability and its proximity to the Chinese border. Despite accounting for just a fraction of the 70 million trips made by Chinese vacationers in 2011, the 70,000 Chinese tourists that did visit North Korea contributed a sizable $300 million to Sino-DPRK trade that year.

With Chinese tourists parting with $73 billion annually, North Korea’s recent investment in its tourist infrastructure and the increasing number of Chinese tour operators offering trips to the DPRK indicates that money is to be made by both sides.

In a stark contrast to this so-called “Chinese invasion”, just 3,500 Western tourists visited North Korea in 2011. Naturally contingent on issues of time, distance, and funds, it still remains that for many in the West the DPRK is still an unknown entity — both as a holiday destination and as a country. Yet in spite of North Korea’s mysteriousness, Western tourist numbers remain steady, with over twenty tour operators now handling demand for travel to the DPRK.

Naturally, a holiday in North Korea is unlike any other. From the ever-present tour guides to the obligatory visits to monuments and propaganda-laden museums, restrictions are part-and-parcel of any itinerary. This Potemkin-esque facade has led some, such as Brian Myers, to question the usefulness of tourism to North Korea for those who seek to ‘know’ the country. Others, such as the recently travelled Sophie Schmidt, have instead urged tourists to visit North Korea, if only to observe the glitches in its virtual reality.

As interest in tourism to North Korea grows, two questions seem increasingly important: Is tourism essential for those looking to understand North Korea? And, can tourism to North Korea ever be ethical? Answering these questions are Chad O’Carroll, the founder of NK NEWS; Casey Lartigue, Jr., an international adviser to the Mulmangcho School for North Korean Adolescent Refugees in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province; and New Focus International, a North Korea-focused media organization run by exiled North Koreans.

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Expertise and Tourism

“As a member of an escorted tour,” Temple Fielding observed that “you don’t even have to know that the Matterhorn isn’t a tuba”. In this vein, can North Korea-watchers ever accumulate true knowledge when visiting the DPRK? Chad, you have commented before that, besides knowing the Korean language, time spent in North Korea is a prerequisite for claiming expertise. Is this possible through tourism?

Chad: Yes, I believe so. While Pyongyang is where most people go, don’t forget there are lots of off-the-road locations now available. It’s in these places that interesting material / perspectives can be found. So to assume you can’t acquire knowledge from a tour to North Korea seems a little off, to me at least.

Casey: What is the wisdom from people who have gone to North Korea? It seems that Dennis Rodman came back dumber than when he went there. People engaged in tourism are going there to make money or have a good time, not to help North Koreans escape. That’s okay. The more successful they are, the more likely they are to undermine the North Korean government. I look forward to the day McDonald’s opens a chain of restaurants across the country, those golden arches highlighting the sign, “24 million comrades served daily.” Also, with every movement, there seems to be “rites of passage” used to prove that someone has knowledge or expertise. It is a good way to pull rank in a cause, but it doesn’t really help enlighten people.

New Focus Intl: Seeing Pyongyang isn’t seeing the reality of North Korea, it’s seeing one of many distorted versions of it. This should be kept in mind by anyone on a tour group!

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How do North Koreans in exile view Western experts’ analyses and prescriptions for their country? 

New Focus Intl: There are two North Koreas — one created by Western experts, one of reality. Western experts tend to apply their own biased theories to North Korea, instead of drawing from the North Korean mindset to look through the North Korean lens.

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Academic exchanges are said to be a tool for garnering mutual understanding between North Koreans and the outside world. Business with North Korea has also been seen in a similar light by its proponents, such as Felix Abt. Regardless of outcome, are ‘boots on the ground’ helpful in terms of soft-power and as added sources of information? 

New Focus Intl: North Korea is a duality — there is an exterior North Korea and an interior North Korea (cf. John Everard’s views). You must always ask yourself — are we dealing with the exterior or the interior? Any official channels often reach only the exterior, which is formed of people who wish for the status quo to remain. If we care at all about changing North Korea, we should aim to go straight to the interior. Working with the North Korean state and expecting change for the country is like fishing off an aircraft carrier, rather than off a fishing boat – it may work, but it is a hugely inefficient endeavour if relied on solely.

Casey: Whether or not such academic exchanges help, the South Korean and U.S. governments should not block them.

Chad: Certainly! How can they not be? The more testimonies from foreigners on the ground, the more we know. It’s certainly not the closed and isolated information black hole that it once was.

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What are your opinions on the growing body of ‘everyman’ travelogues of North Korea? Here I’m thinking of Vice’s ‘Guide to North Korea’, the various ‘undercover’ documentaries available online, and the seemingly obligatory tourist blogs. Do they help generate interest in issues such as human rights or does their sensationalism devalue serious issues?  

Chad: I think they play a useful part. They actually get some serious people interested in North Korea in the first place, so they can be useful from that perspective alone. You are right though, there is an increasing strand of North Korea blogging based on the sensationalism of being there — this stuff just goes over the old stereotypes of being behind the iron curtain etc. It goes back to the idea that a lot of people seem to visit North Korea just to facilitate fascinating dinner party conversations for months ahead…

Casey: I suspect that the people reading such sensationalist stuff aren’t going to be very helpful when it is time to do things to help North Koreans trying to escape from North Korea.

New Focus Intl: There is only one Kim family in the world — in North Korea. Only today’s North Koreans (exiled or not) are the ones who can teach us about today’s North Korea. So yes, common sense is entirely missing, sadly.

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Bruce Cumings has argued that while policymakers continue to overlook North Korea’s unique historical milieu they are destined to keep prescribing the wrong policies. Others, such as David Kang, Alon Levkowitz and Suk Hi Kim, make similar points: chiefly, that North Korea is sui generis. Is knowledge of issues such as ideology or Korea’s pre-modern political culture really important for today’s policymakers or is common sense the crucial missing commodity? 

Casey: North Korea is the equivalent of a burning building. People need to get out. I don’t need to know about the history of the building to want to get the people out. Would it have been helpful to understand the Nazis or Stalin to have engaged in exchanges? Evil leaders need to be eliminated, not understood.

Chad: I believe it is critical. A policy maker focusing on a country should know about the country in detail well beyond a reading of policy briefing papers on said country, think tank reports, etc.

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Ethics and Tourism

It is argued that the consequences of tourism to North Korea are harmful, thus tourism is ethically wrong. But should more consideration be paid to the motives of the tourist? For example, if a tourist travels to North Korea with intentions that are inherently good — such as engaging in people-to-people contact — can we say that the ethical case for tourism is sound?
Chad: Good question. Is it ethically sound for regime sycophants to go and praise the North Korean leadership? Dubious. Is it ethically sound for tourists to go and photograph North Koreans like they’re animals on a Kenyan safari? Definitely not.
Casey: Let the tourists go there. I don’t care about their motives. They should be allowed to go or they should not; it shouldn’t depend on their feelings.

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U.S. tourism to Cuba has long been subject to a government-imposed boycott. Additionally, Burma faced a tourist boycott instigated by international human rights groups, with Aung San Suu Kyi once remarking that tourism was “tantamount to condoning the regime”. North Korea’s behavior has arguably been less salubrious than that of Cuba and Burma, yet tourism has rarely faced calls to be boycotted from governments or human rights groups. In your view, why has this been the case?

Casey: There’s no need to boycott when the other side blocks people from going in. If North Korea opened the border to allow people to come in, the South Korean government would probably put up barriers to block leftist sympathizers and others from going there.

Chad: Probably because the numbers are so miniscule compared to Cuba and Myanmar.

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Today, pro-democracy groups encourage tourism to Burma so that ongoing injustices can be exposed. Would a similar form of critical engagement with North Korea be of any use?

Chad: Yes. Sometimes the hosts slip up in North Korea and it’s good for tourists to be there to witness, share stories, and photographs. Especially when they take you to rural areas — things aren’t as controlled as some critics like to think.

Casey: The injustices are well known to anyone who has paid attention. Would it have made sense to engage in tourism in the American south when Africans were held in captivity? The term “of any use” is too vague — for North Korea almost anything would be of some use.

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Intourist, the infamous state-run Soviet Union travel agency (comparable to the Korea International Travel Company), gave work to thousands of Soviet citizens and opened the eyes of many more to the outside world. Are comparable advantages in North Korea possible?

Chad: Yes, certainly: tourism creates jobs and develops contact between foreigners and locals. How can that not be a good thing?

Casey: Those agencies aren’t doing it to help North Koreans, like most business people they are in for themselves. Any help for North Koreans will be a delightful unintended consequence.

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Thanatourism — the visiting of locations once associated with death or suffering, such as Hiroshima or Auschwitz — is said to be morally justifiable due to the historical and moral worth gained in viewing sites retrospectively. With death and suffering still ongoing in North Korea, do similar claims of knowledge accumulation from those who travel to the country, such as Rüdiger Frank or Han Park, seem morally questionable or even more pressing?

Casey: I am supportive of people engaging in trade with North Korea, but I personally won’t do it. The leaders of North Korea are, to borrow a phrase from William Lloyd Garrison, “men stealers and women whippers.” I am more interested in trying to get information into North Korea and helping people to get out, not in engaging in trade with the government.

An important caveat: this debate focuses on the choice of the individual traveler and not their means of travel. It offers no value judgment on travel agents or tour companies that cater to the growing demand for tourism to North Korea.

On Expertise and Ethics: Tourism in North Korea, by Alexander James, April 28, 2013, NK News

Op-eds Why I won't go to North Korea, by Casey Lartigue, Jr., December 27, 2012, The Korea Times
http://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-wont-go-to-north-korea-korea.html 

Common Sense on North Korea by Casey Lartigue Jr., April 2, 2012, The Korea Times

Quoted
Western tourism on the rise, says N. Korea, March 15, 2013
http://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2013/03/casey-lartigue-quoted-in-todays.html

On Expertise and Ethics: Tourism in North Korea, April 28, 2013
http://www.nknews.org/2013/04/on-expertise-and-ethics-tourism-in-north-korea/

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