Skip to main content

2013-10-20 Documentary recording


Thanks to the ever-alert Aaron McKenzie, I know that I am in a PBS documentary. “Economic Freedom in Action: Changing Lives.” It is always nice to be on TV or on movie theater screens, although I rarely watch TV or frequent movie theaters.

But what I am most proud of us is not the handful of seconds that I am on screen. Rather, it is that I am the one who guided the documentary directors in the direction of focusing on North Korea. They had asked me to give them advice for a 15 minute segment on economic freedom in South Korea that was going to be part of a larger documentary.

In my response, I told them that I could help them with that, but that I had a better idea: North Koreans! I had enough contacts here that I could them find some interesting stories to choose from. They weren’t immediately convinced, I’m sure the projects had been in works for a while (raising the financing or funding, getting approval from PBS or other decision-makers). They got back to me, but it was clear that the pressure was on me to come up with some good stuff. And I did!

They loved Andrei Lankov. Only a bit of what he talked about can be shown in the documentary, but he was saying some profound things in his usual animated and no-nonsense way. He gave them clarity that filled in many gaps for them.

김정호 said some really great things to put many things in perspective from an economic viewpoint.

The North Korean businessman was courageous. He had no fear in talking about the topics. His strength caused them to bump some other stories. We wanted to be sure that he would understand that he would be featured, that his name and business would be mentioned in America. He was fine with it. We visited some of the businesses he has helped to start up. Really inspiring stories.

In particular, I enjoyed the visits to the small grocery store as well as the restaurant (the businessman insisted on paying dinner, they fed us with the most expensive things on the menu).

They also wanted to quote me in the documentary, I was delighted. I’m not a major player on North Korean issues, I tend to be a bit pragmatic with my efforts, not engaging in the big issues (nukes, six-party talks). I let them know I would be fine if they quoted me just once, briefly, so I could say I had been on PBS. What I wanted was for them to include as many of the people they had interviewed that I had booked to be in the documentary. So when you see me on screen, you see a man who is delighted that he turned the tide of this documentary to focus on North Korea and to feature some stories about North Korean refugees struggling for freedom.

It was such a great experience, so I am delighted to see the documentary will be shown in America and that a segment of it is available at the Cato Institute Website. Aaron mentioned that I was in the documentary from the 28 minute mark, I am wondering if my former colleagues at Cato thought to mention that I used to be a policy analyst at Cato.













Popular posts from this blog

Radio, Harvard

I'll be a guest on XM 169 The Power this morning from 10:15 a.m. EST. I'll be talking about teaching English abroad. I'll be interviewed by Brian Higgins of MYB Talk . I sang last night for about five hours with friends but I'm sure my voice will be fine. Tuesday, I'll be interviewed by a Harvard University representative who wants my input on a new doctoral program for education leaders . It is a collaboration between the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School. Some folks at the Booker Rising site are (again) reminding me that I'm not as smart as I think I am. CJL

Let's not shake hands (Korea Times, July 2, 2014) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Let's not shake hands By Casey Lartigue, Jr. While there are many things that I love about Korea, there are two things that drive me crazy. One is that, in my observation, most Korean men don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. I know some people get defensive about non-Koreans commenting in a negative way about Korean culture and life, that they want to attack the messenger and the messenger's native country. So I will start by clearly stating that many men in America don't wash their hands either. According to the Website  Stop Handshaking , while 92 percent of adults in America say they wash their hands in public restrooms, an observational study of 6,076 adults sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) found that only 66 percent of men actually washed their hands in public restrooms (88 percent of women did so). As an aside, I am curious how they "observed" that many peopl...

Mentoring while Black (Korea Times 2/16/2023)

  Mentoring while Black by Casey Lartigue Jr. February 16, 2023 www.patreon.com/caseylartigue

North Korean defector seeks justice (Korea Times)

  It was international news when 12 North Korean waitresses and a male manager who worked at a restaurant operated by the North Korean regime in China arrived in South Korea in 2016.  The waitresses have mostly maintained a low profile. There have been numerous accusations and assertions, with some saying the waitresses didn't want to escape, some accused the Park Geun-hye administration of playing politics by releasing details of the case, etc., etc., etc. My blog at the Korea Times today features an exclusive interview with one of the former North Korean waitresses who filed a criminal case against the former manager. You can read about it here on the Korea Times website. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/02/728_345165.html   Keep in mind that there are many more facts to the case and that it is much deeper than this brief excerpt of her comments. She also shared legal documents that I shared with the Korea Times well in advance to give them time to review t...

Still writing (Korea Times, 2023-12-19)

Still writing by Casey Lartigue Jr. The Korea Times December 19, 2023 https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/12/626_365284.html