2017-02-20 Blast from the Past

We were visited yesterday by one of the first refugees to study in TNKR! She has remained a good friend of TNKR, and of course I love her because she constantly praises me as a hero of North Korean refugees. Well, that's the official reason I love her.

The unofficial reason is that she always says I am so handsome.

TNKR National Director Eunkoo Lee is now volunteering at TNKR full-time. That means she is now available to counsel refugees who visit us and to also answer phone calls from refugees asking to join TNKR. This was a turning point in TNKR (now FSI) history. After four years of running TNKR part-time as volunteers, Eunkoo Lee and I both quit our jobs to volunteer full-time. It was clearly among the dumbest financial decisions either one of us had ever made. However, for the organization, it was the moment we could start to grow and stabilize. I would laugh out loud at people who were comparing us to LiNK and larger organizations--we were all volunteers, working together on weekends or evenings, with no committed sponsors and relying on online donations.

I had told Eunkoo that either this organization was going to become something special or we should downsize it and treat it like a hobby. I quit my job at Freedom Factory first, then the day after I published this Korea Times column about her, she decided to quit her job too
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2021/01/626_222156.html

(As an aside, for the stupid chattering class of expats who live in the world of "gotcha! media", yes, I showed her the column in advance, and she approved it. I say that because when I was interviewed on the radio months later, a host accused me of blindsiding Eunkoo. Thankfully I had pushed for her to join me to be on the radio, she was there to dismiss the host's accusation.)

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2021 update: Thankfully, we are no longer volunteering. TNKR would not have survived to this point. The Korean government intervened on my behalf againstTNKR, demanding that TNKR pay me. The first year, TNKR could not survive my government-mandated salary.

Well, the government can force me to be paid, but it couldn't force me to keep the money! The first year, I donated 56% of my salary to TNKR so we wouldn't go bankrupt. I still laugh out loud and try not to curse when people ask me if I have ever donated to TNKR.

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Common Sense on North Korea (Korea Times, April 2, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. As interesting as Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov’s writings are, there is nothing quite like attending one of his lectures. He can barely restrain himself behind the podium, often pointing and waving his arms. I also enjoy his unscripted speeches, but his answers in Q&A sessions are like the difference between watching Michael Jordan shoot baskets in warm-ups and an actual game. I have finally discovered the secret behind Lankov’s consistently solid analysis about North Korea: Use common sense. At an Asan Institute conference last summer, he argued that North Korea watchers should try to understand North Korea from its perspective. Don’t most people know that you must understand the mindset of others you are dealing with? Yet, common sense in theory gets ignored politically. From the North Korean perspective, nuclear weapons are the best thing they’ve got going. They will NOT give them up easily, even if President Obama ...

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By Casey Lartigue, Jr. There is probably an unwritten rule that a celebrity offering to do volunteer work for a good cause should immediately be embraced. Well, that’s not what happened to Jeong So-dam, the glamorous Korean cable TV announcer when our paths crossed on Nov. 29. Ms. Jeong was the MC of an event about American political philosophy hosted by the Association for Economic Evolution. During my speech about American libertarianism since 1940, I discussed my volunteer work for North Korean refugees. After the speech, Jeong approached me, asking how she could help. I gave her the same tough love I give to potential volunteers by asking: “Who are you?” After all, if you are Bill Gates, then open your wallet. If you speak four languages, then help with translation work. So I first stress to potential volunteers: Use your brain. Tell us about your skills and interests so together we can figure out your initial role. Jeong was good-natured about it, rather than c...

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By Casey Lartigue, Jr. “Have you ever been to North Korea?” This is the question I am almost always asked here in South Korea when people learn that I have become an activist for North Korean escapees. My response is curt: “No.” “Do you plan on going?” they ask next. My answer remains the same: “No.” When they start to ask a follow-up question, I cut them off: "No." People are often just trying to make conversation, I know, but I am blunt for a reason: I am not interested in going to North Korea as long as North Koreans are held captive. I could go one day, but for now, I can do without a government-guided tour by " men-stealers and women-whippers ," to borrow a phrase from American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. I don’t mean to criticize people who have gone to North Korea for political, educational, business, religious reasons or just plain curiosity. However, some people push me on the issue, ― and I push back. A good friend wh...

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