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Showing posts from December, 2014

Authoritarian mentality lives on (Korea Times, 12/31/14) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Authoritarian mentality lives on By Casey Lartigue, Jr. The next time Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon speaks about innovation and new ways of doing business being "deeply rooted" in city administration, I hope he will surround himself on stage with police officers and prosecutors. The authoritarian mentality is still alive in Korea, as  Mark Clifford  wrote in his 1994 book " Troubled Tiger ." Korea remains a "country of elite control" in which "the state oversees everything from wedding ceremonies to corporate investment." Korea then had 500,000 local government officials, reaching into every sector of Korean society. Two decades later, there is still no issue too trivial for Korea's numerous politicians to get involved in, with even former President Lee Myung-bak discussing in a 2011 cabinet meeting ― yes, a presidential cabinet meeting ―  whether men working in host bars should be considered a

2014-12-23 Talking Talking Talking...

Meeting #1: This morning I joined a weekly news discussion. Even though they use the Economist as the foundation of discussions, I join anyway. Right, I'm not a fan of The Economist, I often spend half of the discussion ranting about the Economist. Thanks to Van SD Hur for inviting me and keeping me updated anyway! Jenny later joined TNKR as a tutor, and was the first bilingual tutor who took English-only seriously. Meeting #2: I also had a lunch meeting, but forgot to take a photo... At one point, I mentioned that I had recently been asked why I have a "problem" with North Korea. I said, "I'm doing fine, it doesn't matter what I think about North Korea. It is North Koreans who are trying to escape from North Korea who have a 'problem' with North Korea." Meeting #3: I met with John Lim to discuss his project with the Center for Asia Leadership Initiatives. The organization will be bringing 40 talented youngsters from around the world. I w

Mulmangcho Christmas Party (2014-12-21)

In late 2012, shortly after I became the volunteer International Adviser to the Mulmangcho School (for adolescent North Korean refugees), I talked with school founder Prof. Park Sun-young about us holding a Christmas Party for the kids. I quickly concluded there was no way I could do it on my own so I dropped the idea and ignored her when she tried to remind me about it.^^

Teach North Korean Refugees launches new project (2014-12-20)

In March 2013, Lee Eunkoo and Casey Lartigue co-founded Teach North Korean Refugees. The main goal was to give North Korean refugees opportunities to study English with volunteer English tutors. We weren't the first to do it, but we added a few twists to it by allowing the refugees to choose the tutors themselves, and to choose as many as they wanted. We didn't benchmark the program by studying others, we just did what we thought made sense based on the situation. So far, we have matched 147 refugees and 11 South Koreans helping NK refugees with 205 tutors. We recently expanded beyond English to add Spanish and Latin, and later may add more languages. But we have now launched a project that promises to be really special. We are splitting TNKR into two main parts; Track 1: Finding My Own Way Track 2: Telling My Story Track 1 will be the original project connecting refugees with volunteer tutors to study for standardized tests, employment, school, personal enr

Christmas Party--Yonsei Severance Hospital (2014-12-17)

Two words that don't go together--"kids" and "cancer." Yesterday HOPE (Helping Others Prosper through English) hosted a Christmas party at Yonsei University's Severance Hospital in the Childrens' Cancer war. It was the second year in a row, first inspired October 2013 when my buddy Nick Adams visited South Korea. Jungah Ji joined us last year, as she did for the Christmas Party last year and then again this year! Some of you may recall that I decided to hold a Christmas Party at the hospital in late 2013. I wrote about it here (with photos). http:// caseylartigue.blogspot.com/ 2013/12/ inspiration-from-lousy-visi tor-korea.html

Rushing to judgment on a defector (The Korea Times, 12/17/14) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Rushing to judgment on a defector By Casey Lartigue, Jr. Have you ever read an article that you knew was wrong or incomplete based on your inside knowledge? That was the case as I read a 3,000-word commentary by reporter Mary Ann Jolley challenging statements by North Korean refugee Park Yeon-mi. Jolley questioned if Park had really witnessed the execution of a friend's mother for watching a Hollywood movie, in Hyesan, North Korea. Jolley quoted North Korea scholar Andrei Lankov who questioned the likelihood of the account, as well as an unnamed 59-year-old refugee from Hyesan who "laughed" that such a thing had happened there. The problem? Park didn't say the execution occurred in Hyesan. I know this because since last April I have recorded hours of detailed interviews with Park to help document her story. Park was born in Hyesan and later lived in Pyongyang, but moved to the countryside after her father was impr

Psy

2014-12-07 Yes, it is true, I met him. Last night at the Harvard Club of Korea's annual dinner. 2014-12-07, the real Psy met the real KC. Of course, I told him about TNKR (now @freedomspeakersinternational). After winning the talent contest in 2012 or 2013, I am glad I didn’t sign up for 2014. Psy was there. Geum Na-Ra was there. Ho-Young Ju of TheSeeYa was there. And a real Harvard rapper, Kent Kim, was there! It was an incredible night. By then I had decided that I would stay in Korea after returning from another long trip to the USA a few weeks before. I don’t know who will be the entertainment at the 2022 Harvard alumni dinner, but I won’t be signing up as part of the entertainment or a talent show.