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Showing posts from May, 2013

Last weekend: Suicide, Kim Young Ha, NK

Credit: Joanne Cho Event 1: Friday night I went to a talk given by Fulbright junior researcher Joanne Cho. She did a great job putting together statistics about some of the most commonly cited reasons that so many Koreans commit suicide. Probably the most provocative tidbit: Cho watched 86 dramas from the spring of 2012 to now, she says that 63 had "scenes depicting or discussing suicide" in a favorable light (as a way to solve problems, that troubled people can be forgiven for their sins and are even seen as sympathetic).  Another interesting tidbit: While it is often cited that Korea is number one in the world in suicide (among countries reporting reliable statistics), what I had not realized or had forgotten is that Korean men are number 8 in the world compared to men in other countries with reliable statistics, Korean women are #1 in the world when compared to women in other countries. My questions for the speaker: 1) What was a finding in your research th

2013-05-26 Mulmangcho developing

Thanks to KJ Chen, Cielo Yoon, Jeffrey Song, Yiying Han, Lolu Ayo, Cortney Grace, Agnes Choi and Michelle Mangeni for volunteering yesterday at Mulmangcho. It feels like we have reached a new period of development of this Sunday program. This all started in mid-2012 when Prof. Park Sun-Young asked me if I could teach English to the young children at the school who had the misfortune of being born in North Korea.  My answer was: "No."  Then I explained that I have no idea how to teach children, but that I could find other real teachers with the know-how and volunteers with the enthusiasm to do much better than I ever could.  Each week, I am amazed when so many people are willing to wake up so early on a Sunday morning to travel more than an hour outside of Seoul to volunteer at the school. For some, it ruins their Saturday nights--for others, it gives them an excuse ("I would go out and do exciting things tonight, but I will stay home (again) so I can wake up early.&qu

Yeonmi Park's first Language Matching session with TNKR (2013-05-23)

2013-05-23: My colleague Eunkoo Lee and I organized a session connecting North Korean refugees with some native and fluent English language speakers. We had been planning this session for weeks, everything was in place. I happened to mention it to Prof. Park Sun Young yesterday--she immediately invited/strongly suggested/refused to take no for answer when she said we could use the newly opened Mulmangcho Research Center to hold the session instead of paying out of pocket for a large room at a TOZ Business Center.  Wow! Great. But to suddenly change the venue to a different part of town just about 24 hours in advance?  That's like changing the direction of the Titanic.  We originally had 19 volunteers and 13 NK escapers signed up. I think we had a total of 16 volunteers and 14 NK escapers. We might hold another session soon. 2020 reflections :  * This was Yeonmi Park's first Language Matching session. I had met Yeonmi months before. I knew that she was on Korean TV, but even th

Memories of the Mayflower

* * * 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. 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 out

2013 May 3 "Escape from Camp 14" forum + Street Talk Concert

Round 1: I was the moderator of a 10 Magazine discussion on the book "Escape from Camp 14" featuring author Blaine Harden. The subject of the book, Shin Dong Hyuk, stopped by to join the conversation.   Round : I met up with some of the folks who participated in the Street Talk Concert as part of NK Awareness Week. 2020 comment: Round 1: I was then relatively new to the NK discussion and activist world, I had pledged about 14 months before to get involved. I had met Shin Dong-hyuk more than a year before, it was a pleasure when we learned that he would be joining Blaine Harden during the event. Blaine Harden was to be the featured speaker, but when Shin joined, he took a step back, deferring to Shin the entire discussion. Eunkoo Lee and I had just formed TNKR, so I don't believe it was mentioned that night. I was then known more for my writing and public speaking, getting in the street with the activists including sending air balloons and information, organizing events, a

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?