Skip to main content

North Koreans love me--really!

I have a piece in today's Korea Times.

CJL

Surprise — North Koreans love me! By Casey Lartigue Jr.

Irish novelist Oscar Wilde once quipped, ``Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” I can’t help but conclude that my friends, while professing love and concern for me, believe that others are unhappy whenever I ``arrive.”

When I was first leaving America to live and work in Taiwan, I was warned by friends that the locals might discriminate against me. I had a great time. Before I later left Taiwan for South Korea, I was warned by Korean friends and others in Taiwan that I might get discriminated here. Again, I had a great time.

Things came full circle when I was leaving Korea to return to America. I was warned that rather than the preferential treatment I had received as a college professor in South Korea that I might get discriminated against in my own country!

So I wasn't surprised when I told friends and colleagues that I would be attending a conference last July 10 with North Koreans in Seoul that I was warned that the attendees might be afraid of me. Instead, I was welcomed by the 35 or so North Koreans at the event sponsored by the South Korea-based Center for Free Enterprise (CFE).

Because I wasn’t a scheduled speaker and the attendees had not been warned in advance that I would be there, I suppose the North Koreans were shocked to find an American freely mingling with them during the final day of their two day conference. Surprised, yes. Fearful, no.

One of my colleagues who organized the event was more surprised than anyone when he came out of the main auditorium to see me comfortably seated on the couch with about seven North Koreans huddled around me, peppering me with questions in Korean, Chinese and broken English about myself and America. Two of the people there who could speak some English made it clear that they wanted to be friends with me, demanding that I call them soon.

I was getting along with them so well that Kim Chung-ho, president of the CFE, asked me if I would like to speak to all of the attendees after he finished his opening lecture.

I’ve never met a working microphone that I didn’t like so I accepted the invitation, encouraging the newcomers to first, not be embarrassed to make money, that money gives the freedom to do the things they want to do. Second that business people may not care about their customers, but that’s okay, because they care about ``themselves” so they will work hard for others in a market economy, and third that they had fulfilled their dream to escape North Korea, and they should enjoy their lives here or wherever they go.

At lunch, I talked with them individually and in small groups, learning that many of them wanted to learn English because it would help them get better jobs here in South Korea or to travel abroad. They had heard only bad things about America when they were growing up but had a positive view of America and Americans, the more they learned.

That gathering was a reminder that politicians and arbitrary borders get in the way of people from around the world getting to know each other, with one of the worst friendship blockers being the DMZ. Forget Barack Obama, Lee Myung-bak and Kim Jong-il. It seems that we could have resolved problems between North and South Korea that morning before lunch.

When I left a few hours later, it was clear that they were not happy to see me go, with several reminding me to contact them.

Popular posts from this blog

Get rid of that watermelon!

Part 1: When I was a youngster I used to collect Confederate money, posters and photographs with caricatures of blacks, and "No blacks allowed signs." I loved the money because it was a reminder of how far the sorry Confederacy had fallen. I had one poster of a dark-skinned black boy munching on a watermelon. I would look at that small poster and wonder, "What in the world is wrong with anyone wanting to eat watermelon?" Yes, white people, I'm talking to you. Your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who thought making fun of blacks for eating watermelon were crazy ! Even people who say that nothing has changed in race relations must acknowledge that the many stereotypes of blacks are no longer prevalent. But then, there are also some ready to remind us of days-gone-by by debunking stuff that doesn't need to be debunked today. According to the Washington Post: The sound you just heard was yet another racial stereotype going kersplat ! Some ...

Forgery or conspiracy? Memorandum 46

Here's an article I co-wrote that will appear in the Sunday Outlook section of the Washington Post . We'll be updating this page over the coming days. So check back for updates. Memorandum 46 timeline , as compiled by us. Audio from our last show on XM 169 before we got fired. That audio is divided into segments, this one is one large MP3 . Who says Memorandum46 is true? Former rep. Cynthia McKinney presents Memo 46 to the United Nations and defends it in a speech . Joe Madison presents Memo 46 at the annual Congressional Black Caucus gathering. Former D.C. delegate Walter Fauntroy, on the Joe Madison show on XM 169 (audio available, upon request) and on Michael Fauntroy's site Boyd Graves (see Exhibit 10 of his lawsuit against the government) The Final Call, with Brzezinski's name misspelled . Len Horowitz Blackelectorate.com Millions for Reparations Various discussion forums or discussants, such as: Greekchat , Jahness , Who says Memorandum 46 is a forgery? Brzezi...

Yogi Anjuseyo

People often ask me, now that I am back in Korea, how things are different. My main responses: 1) I'm different. 2) Koreans seem more open-minded 3) The expats seem more educated, but have many of the same complaints and are using the same analysis I was hearing then. Robert Neff writes in the newest edition of the Korea Times about the recent fight on the bus. He mentions: "Scribblings of the Metropolitician brought up an interesting observation ― one that bothers him a great deal ― the empty seat. According to him, regardless of how crowded the bus is and the number of people standing, the seat next to him is always empty. It is insulting to him that no one wants to sit next to him. "But not all expatriates in Korea have that problem ― some find themselves with unwanted seatmates." Seoul subway line 5, Sept 8, 2011. --Casey Lartigue, Jr.. That is one of the low-rent issues I remember from the 1990s. I have learned that Scribblings of th...

From nothing to something super special (2023-02-10)

FSI has moved into a better institutional neighborhood where we are the poorest in the area. In August 2022, I was elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Freedom Speakers International (FSI) and in January 2023 FSI achieved incorporation status in South Korea. This has meant that FSI must upgrade operations and structure and I am the one, as chairman and co-president, who will be blamed if it doesn’t happen. I really should not be the chairman, for a variety of reasons, but anyway I am. Eunkoo and I are not the typical executives of a growing organization. In addition to being mainly responsible for building and fundraising for the organization, we are the hands-on leaders who are constantly in contact with North Korean refugee speakers. We look forward to the day we can afford staff to handle many tasks. Until then we can expect to continue having more days like yesterday, even on Eunkoo’s birthday. 2023-02-10 Meeting #1: planning We started Eunkoo’s birthday with a planning...

Open door to N. Koreans (Korea Times, January 16, 2013) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Open door to N. Koreans By Casey Lartigue, Jr. Last Dec. 12, I fired off an opinion piece of about 1,500 words to the Washington Post. It easily could have been 1,600 words, but I deleted all of the curse words. The day before, I had learned that the United States government had rejected visa applications by three of the students at the Mulmangcho School for North Korean refugee adolescents. Mulmangcho (meaning, ``forget-me-not”) is a small alternative school located in Yeoju, more than an hour south of Seoul. It opened last September with 11 former North Korean children who are orphans or are disadvantaged in some other way. It was founded by former national assembly member Park Sun-young and a distinguished board of directors. Why were the youngsters rejected? The explanation I got: 1) The U.S. government is concerned that they might not return to South Korea and 2) there was a question about their refugee status because they didn’t have pr...