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Showing posts from November, 2014

Rejecting a dream job - and loving it (The Korea Times, 2014-11-19) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Dearest Casey, During your current trip to the USA to give a series of speeches in New York, D.C., Tennessee and California, you were delightfully blindsided by a job offer that would pay you more than three times as much as you are now making in South Korea. A few years ago, after a health scare, you began reflecting on your life and decided that you would only do the things that you wanted to do. People who try to pressure you to do things you don’t want to do have a 100% chance of failing. As you tell such people: "I don’t have to eat everything put on my plate.” People who give advice you reject are told: "I promise, I won’t stop you from taking your own advice.” You value every moment that you are alive, and will enjoy the rest of your life on your own terms. For more than two years, you have been focused on helping North Korean refugees , typically using your own funds. You are lucky that Freedom Factory and the Atlas Network both came through with suppo

2014-11-13 Atlas Liberty Forum

I am now in New York City, been living it up the last few days at the Atlas Liberty Forum. We had worked closely together during the year, doing a podcast, speaking together in China and Hong Kong, and then in the USA. I was the moderator of a session with her. There were so many people expressing interest that the session was moved to a larger room. She was great, as usual, had many people in the audience (men and women) crying as we discussed her story. She will go on to bigger and better things, I know! * My Atlas colleagues went out of their way to praise me and single me out. It was a great moment, to have so many people so focused on what is happening to North Koreans. Many were asking what they could do to help. At the final dinner, Yeonmi was invited to give a toast to freedom! * The keynote speaker at the dinner was legendary chess champion Garry Kasparov. He has already achieved fame and fortune, there is no reason for him to be hanging out with us. But he speaks firmly in fa

N. Korea owes S. Korea $961 million by 2037--but what is LiNK doing?

NK News takes on Liberty in North Korea, writing a well-research editorial with sources asking if LiNK has the right priorities, if it is spending its money well, etc. There's an old joke where an economist walking down the street: Friend: "Joe, how is your wife." Joe: "Compared to what?" LiNK raised a record $1.5 million last year, and since 2010 has spent $1.3 million on its "changing the narrative" campaign. Is LiNK spending its money well. Well, compared to what? $724 million : South Korean government loans to NK government, 2000-07, unpaid $257 million : South Korean government assistance to North Korea during Lee Myung-bak's administration, 2008-13 $199 million : World Food Programme budget for food aid to North Korea, 2013 $150 million : U.N. appeal in 2013 $29.4 million : U.N. appeal for emergency situation in DPRK, 2013 $15.1 million : U.N. humanitarian fund, 2013 $13.3 million : South Korean humanitarian aid to NK

A Meaningful Experience (The Korea Times, Nov 5, 2014) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Dearest Casey,   Congratulations! Your colleague  Yeonmi Park  has been named in the  BBC's Top 100 Women in the World 2014 . This has meant she has given speeches around the world and been  featured in major media  such as the  New York Times  and  Huffington Post . This all occurred in the last two weeks of October. Who would have believed she would become so well known internationally?   Actually, you did. You have known it since  Feb. 14, 2014, when you spoke together at an international school located outside of Seoul . On the subway coming back from the discussion, you told Yeonmi, one of the 124 North Korean refugees in your  Teach North Korean Refugees Project  (TNKR), that she had the potential to become a leading advocate for liberty. She didn't believe you, but you offered to help make it happen: "If you don't become a star for liberty, raising awareness and attracting others to get involved, then that will mean I have failed. I feel like a college

2014-11-01 Teach North Korean Refugees "Female Teachers Only" session,

Teach North Korean Refugees earlier today hosted its 20th English Matching session. We have now matched 124 refugees, 174 volunteer teachers, and 9 South Koreans working for NGOs or helping NK refugees in some way. Special thanks to Nina Hong, Katie Yuk, Claire Jessica Tighe, Kristen Lefebvre, Gabrielle Wray, Angela Miller, Noa Sunyoung Lim, Hannah Gzik, Nicole Kahansky, Suzanne Atwill Stewart for joining TNKR. It was a particularly sweet session--7 North Korean refugees, 10 volunteers, 1 reporter, 1 Ambassador, 2 co-directors, 1 cameraman, and 1 donor--and a partridge in a pear tree! Because of rumors of dating, we banned male tutors from this session ( as I explain in more detail at the bottom of this post ). One refugee was clear. Her English wasn't that great, but she said: "I want strict teacher." We want to create a project so serious students like her won't have volunteers trying to get her to go hiking or hanging out. I got criticized by