Skip to main content

2017-01-17 The American Known in North Korea, at the DMZ

 


I joined the Asia Leadership Trek on a visit to the DMZ (I think this was my fourth or fifth trip to the DMZ). A US soldier giving us a special tour of the DMZ recognized me. Haha! That's funny. Then another US military person recognized me. 

Haha! Go to the DMZ, get recognized. I bet that happens all of the time. 

Then one of the soldiers mentioned that the North Korean snipers on the other side of the DMZ use facial recognition, and that I might want to be careful. Some of us were laughing, but he said that I had become a public figure and that North Korea might want to take a shot at me. I was waiting for him to turn to the others and laugh, but he had a poker face.

The other members of the Asia Leadership Trek were in awe of me, but I also noticed they didn't want to stand between me and North Korea. They were probably also rethinking their decision to invite me to join the trip.

A few years ago, I was profiled in the Asia Catalyst as "The American Known in North Korea." (see page 32)

I haven't been back to the DMZ since then, and have turned down a few opportunities to go.

www.lovetnkr.org/donate


The American Known in North Korea


Link to the Asia Catalyst article, "The American Known in North Korea."

"Have I been targeted by North Korea?" (The Korea Times, 2014-07-29)

"Dear Readers: I'm on North Korea's enemies list." (The Korea Times, 2014-02-24)


www.lovetnkr.org/donate



Popular posts from this blog

2019-12-19 Interview with Japanese reporter

"The interview is the honeymoon, publication is the divorce." --Shinae Chun I had a GREAT and FUN interview today with a reporter from Japan. Let's hope publication will also be great! www.lovetnkr.og
Read more

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

  National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube
Read more

How not to get your ass beat by the police

The black president of the United States stupidly commented on the arrest of a black Harvard professor in his own home by a white police officer. Some random thoughts and memories: * I'm sure most people are still trying to figure out who Prof. Gates is. As G.K. Chesterton once wrote: "Journalism consists largely in saying 'Lord Jones is dead' to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive." * Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Gates' arrest was "every black man's nightmare." Perhaps. But having a criminal in my house is even more of a nightmare. Also, having the president of the United States talk off the cuff about me about something he doesn't know is pretty bad. And getting shot by a cop after I escalated a situation would also be worse than getting arrested. Anyway, I have had my own dealings with the police over the years: * Back when I was a college student many many moons ago, one of my brothers and I got stopped by police in Bro...
Read more

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
Read more

Michael Vick ain't got nuthin on me!!!

After football player Michael Vick admitted that he had been running a dog-fighting business I wrote that he was an idiot. If he was going to engage in such activity he should have gone to Indonesia or somewhere else. He certainly had the money to do so at that time. If he knew then what he knows now then he would have spent $10 million to run his dogfighting ring in Manila. Today I did something that probably not even Michael Vick ever did: I ate dog meat. I never expected that I would do so. It is a bit scandalous because Koreans don't just kill the dogs and eat them. Rather, they will beat them to death while they are still alive. That allegedly is to get the adrenaline flowing which allegedly makes the meat more tender which allegedly improves a man's stamina. I had told a friend that I wanted to give it a try. But as we sat down to eat I said: "I want to try this but don't give me any details until after we are finished eating." It just looked like regular me...
Read more