The Casey Lartigue Show!

2015-06-18 Invitation In recognition of International Refugee Day, the U of A and Edmonton chapters of Amnesty International are teaming up with the Teach North Korean Refugees Project (TNKR) and Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) to bring you a one-of-a-kind event that will give you a direct window into the human rights abuses in North Korea from people who’ve lived there, as well as sharing the hope they h ave for their lives now that they're free. Two North Korean refugees will be speaking (via Skype from Seoul) about their experiences escaping North Korea and transitioning into a life of freedom, as well as several other speakers discussing the human rights situation in North Korea and their work helping North Korean refugees. Our speakers will be: • Sharon Jang, a 24-year-old North Korean student who fled North Korea in 2011. Sharon travelled for two months, covering 2300 miles through China and Laos, in order to reach safety at the South Korean embassy in Thailand. She had p...

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. In late 2012, I wrote a  Thoughts of the Times column  reflecting upon some racial slights that I received in South Korea during the 1990s. Unfortunately, I have experienced a few cases recently that topped all of those. A Korean professor who is a fan of mine has been recruiting me to join her university. She secretly let me know her colleagues pushed back. One concern: I might be too independent. She says that Korean professors typically seek colleagues who won’t challenge them, so I will need to show humility. Two, citing my career, they worried that I might not be satisfied with their lesser known university (Harvard graduate, previously taught at Yonsei University as a young man, and have worked at high profile organizations in both the USA and South Korea). In previous job searches, I have responded to the “overqualified” point by saying: “If you think I am overqualified then you should watch me work for a week.” She listed a few other thi...

There are two Korean mom-and-pop restaurants that face each other. * They serve similar "side dishes" as a meal. * They have virtually the same names, such as one star being named "7-11" and the other being named "Big 7-11." * They are in the same area here near the National Assembly. One side has a line of people  waiting to eat... the other side has no one waiting... Ah, but the side that is not attracting customers does have a sign. Complaining that the other restaurant stole their name... The Korean customers who wait in line surely must know what is going on. Still, they choose to go to the other restaurant, waiting in line. One day, I went with a friend to that less popular restaurant. The food was not as good. Even the workers were not as friendly. My co-workers and I had lunch again today at the more popular restaurant.

About two hours ago, walking into a building I come to very often, the guard/gentleman at the front of the building who answers questions was sitting in his underwear, in the middle of changing his pants. It almost seemed that he had started changing them, got distracted by something on TV, took a seat, said hello to me as I walked by, then finished putting on his pants... He seemed nonchalant about me catching him in the act. Instead of judging it from my immediate "what the hell" response, I was thinking about it from his perspective. "Hey, I needed to change my pants at that moment. If I do this at the bathroom, and someone comes in looking for help, then I will get criticized for not being there. If I change my pants at my desk, then yes, some foreigner may wonder 'what the hell?' Damned if you do, damned if you don't." * * * The editorial writers of the Korea Times spend too much time watching movies. They want big symbolic actions that mean...

I picked up the Korea MERS Times, I found that a 5th person has died of MERS. The Korea MERS Times and Korea MERS media overall have been fixated on MERS. It got so bad that I have even bought a mask for the KC Mini-Me at my office. Meanwhile, also in South MERS Korea... 197 cancer deaths per day (2010 statistic) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC3629358/ 40 suicides per day (2013 statistic) http://beyondhallyu.com/culture/south-korea-the-suicide-capital-of-the-world/ 16 traffic related deaths per day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate 158 die every day from smoking related deaths http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140912000435 60 rapes reported per day http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130423001036 3.7 murders committed daily (2010) http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/08/113_72077.html 2.4 rapes and sexual assaults committed daily by senior citizens http://kor...

2020 update : So many were trying to compare the US and South Korean reactions to COVID-19. My response: It is ridiculous to compare them. South Korea has had a number of viruses come through, pollution from China. Back in 2015, when MERS came through, many Koreans were reaching for their masks. Masks were so prevalent even 5 years ago that I used them as a gag, putting one on a birthday gift. From what I have heard, there are still debates in the USA about the effectiveness of masks. 2015 comments : South Korea is in a frenzy now because of the Mers virus... I don't know how seriously to take it, I seem to remember similar scares--Swine flu, mad cow disease, bird flu, SARS, Ebola, foot-and-mouth disease, West Nile virus... now Mers... Just in case, I bought a mask... www.lovetnkr.org/donate

TNKR, June 2015. Our status at that time: * I was working at Freedom Factory as the Director for International Relations. * Eunkoo Lee was working full-time at the Korea Educational Development Institute, dropping into the office when possible sometimes. * TNKR was just a project of Freedom Factory, not even yet an official organization. * Our "office" was my desk," but we had started to claim the second desk that Eunkoo and others would share when they came into the office. " We had just gotten our first intern. * We had no money, at that time we began thinking that we could ask the volunteers and fans saying they love us so much if they could donate or fundraise. * Why don't you have a more professional website? The usual drive-by experts and commentators were asking things like: "How do you spend your money?" My answer was first to laugh, then ask, "WHAT MONEY???" "Why don't you do Skype?" "Why don't you have classes...