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Showing posts from 2015

2015-12-29 Radio Free Asia report about FSI's English Speech Contest

  2015-12-29 Radio Free Asia report on English Speech Contest  Here's an article by Radio Free Asia seven years ago on this day. At that time, Eunkoo and I had jobs elsewhere so FSI was a part-time hobby that was taking over our lives. FSI wasn't an official organization yet, that wouldn't happen until July 2016.  * * *  In late 2014, we held several meetings with North Korean refugees to talk about starting a public speaking program and holding an English speech contest. We started with an annual contest, but because of the enthusiastic response from refugee participants, we decided to hold the contest twice a year after we got a sponsor.  Here's the 2015-12-29 Radio Free Asia article in Korean. https://www.rfa.org/korean/in_focus/human_rights_defector/speechcontest-12292015145252.html  Two South Korean volunteers translated the RFA article into English. It was great to see the positive comment from Sungju Lee, who later published Every Falling Star. This article is a

2015-12-06 Harvard Club Year-End Dinner Party

  I joined the Harvard Club of Korea's Year-End Dinner Party held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul. The MC was Kim Byung-chan, guest speaker was Park Jin, US Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert gave the congratulatory address. I took so many photos, one lady at the dinner asked me if I was part of the organizing party! Harvard Alumni for TNKR

2015-12-04 CFE

  During 2011-12, I had an incredibly active time as the Director for International Relations at the Center for Free Enterprise in South Korea. The most significant thing is that the organization went from unranked to the #106 ranked think tank in the world. Okay, for those only interested in the top 20, that may not sound great, but to go from unranked (top 150) to #106 out of 6,603 in the world? That's damn good! Back then I wasn't discussing North Korea at all--I was writing about and discussing economics and politics. My favorite activity was organizing events bringing speakers from around the world. Yesterday I stopped by to check out the new office. CFE president Hyun Jinkwon gave me a tour and update about what CFE has been doing. www.lovetnkr.org/donate

2015-11-12 Case Study of TNKR by Columbia Teachers College

  --New York, New York-- If TNKR can make it here, it can make it anywhere... * Wanna know how good TNKR is? Even great people at Columbia University believe it is great. Teach North Korean Refugees is now being analyzed by graduate students at The Teachers College, Columbia University as part of a case study. TNKR wasn't even an official organization until May 2015, but we have already had many great things happen. With both the professor and students in the class analyzing us--yes, asking some pointed questions, too--then TNKR should be even stronger in 2016 in helping refugees find their way and tell their stories. * Have you ever told someone that you were honored by something they were doing, and they try to convince you that they are even more honored to collaborate with you! That's what happened tonight with the professor at Columbia University who opened her classroom to me. She and the students were asking me plenty of pointed questions about TNKR. Based on their respo

2015-10-27 Sharon at Sungkyungkwan University

Five years ago, on October 27, 2015, Teach North Korean Refugees Ambassador Sharon Jang spoke at Sungkyungkwon University. We have suddenly had several speaking opportunities, arranged by volunteers in TNKR. It was one of our most active times for public speaking. We had recently launched the public speaking program and we weren't yet an official organization so we had fewer Organizational responsibilities (meaning, I could then freelance a bit and organize more of these freelance events).  Of course, COVID has changed everything, but in 2021 we hope to be more active again with the public speaking program. https://www.facebook.com/donate/999256267216506 https://give.lovetnkr.com/Voices Here are my notes from five years ago: * Dead men can ask questions : Sharon spoke in Korean today, so it meant she could tell her story in more detail. A few of the students remarked that it was the first time they had concentrated that hard in class. The students, a mix of international and South