2019-09-23 When can I start?

One of the delightful things about being the International Director of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center is meeting with North Korean refugees when they come in for their initial consultations with us. We want to learn what it is they want to study, make sure they understand that we have a specific process that we expect them to follow, make it clear that this is not a social club to come find foreign friends, and that this is a self-study program so they should not expect tutors to do everything/we have expectations for them.

After we go through the initial interview, the most common question refugees ask: "When can I start?" Some seem to be looking around our office, wondering if there are any teachers available at that moment to start studying.

We have had refugees show up unannounced, even though we don't publicize our address. Others have called us as soon as they learned about us, asking if they could come visit right then. When we tell them they must apply first, then they will call right after that asking if they can come then. Why? Because "I don't want you to forget me. I need to study in TNKR."

Then they come in to visit. In some cases, it seems they are doing cartwheels all the way to our office.

He will be joining our next matching session. He's a busy guy with international connections, so he is extremely motivated to improve his english.

She's been on TV many times and insisted that it was okay to show her face.

She's a writer, so she was quite interested in my book. She wanted to buy a copy, but instead I gave her one for free.

She can't wait to get started. She may choose all of the tutors.

It is great when a student says she has been waiting for the interview because she wanted to meet you. She saw some of my speeches and interviews in YouTube.

Bonghee Han was getting prepared for choosing tutors she would study with. She analyzed the resumes to make sure she would get the teachers she wanted!

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As I was writing this post, I asked TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee: "Do you think refugees are passive?"

She just looked at me, didn't respond. When we first started working together, she thought refugees were passive, that they couldn't make decisions on their own. That's because in her work as a researcher with government agencies, the refugees she encountered were passive. As she said then: Everyone who worked with refugees knew they were passive. The agencies with a lot of money could afford lousy programs because they could pay refugees to be there or get them to show up by requiring their attendance to get other services.

That disagreement was the theme of our TEDx Talk.
https://www.ted.com/talks/casey_lartigue_jr_eunkoo_lee_you_can_t_save_the_world_here_s_what_we_can_do

And the column I wrote shortly before Eunkoo quit her full-time job to volunteer with TNKR. Some of the stupid expat talkers took it as an attack on Eunkoo, even a radio talk show asked me about it on a radio show, but I showed Eunkoo the column in advance, she was proud that she had developed based on a new situation. The day after I published the column, she made the decision to quit her job to focus on TNKR full-time.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2017/01/626_222156.html

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Support fundraisers by students in TNKR

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

Does a flower turn to the sun?

I tend not to address points raised by people commenting on posts. In the back-and-forth of such discussions, people sometimes say things they don't mean or take extreme positions. In other cases they are just trying to be provocative, especially when they can remain anonymous. But a discussion on Greg Mankiw's blog caught my attention. That's because a couple of the folks suggested that parents don't really have the knowledge to make decisions about the quality of schools. Between 2002-2004 I was actively involved in the fight to get school vouchers for families in DC. I often heard the argument that parents don't know how to choose between good and bad schools and that, anyway, parents had enough choices with the school system's "out-of-boundary" options and charters (that had also been opposed). Without getting too deep into the out-of-boundary program, I'll point out that Woodrow Wilson HS, considered one of the best schools in the city, recei...

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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 ...

Random scenes in Seoul

Yesterday morning I stopped by to buy some kimbab 김밥 at one of the places that sells rolls for 1,000 won (about $.80, depending on how much the Korean or U.S. government have screwed up their respective currencies). I stop by there often so of course the woman there recognizes me. Of course, they probably recognized me from the first time I went there... Yesterday, she asked in Korean if I liked tan mu gi 단무지. I said yes, that I loved it. As I was trying to pay, she hurriedly cut some up right then, then fed it to me, like I was a 6 year old child... I could see everyone in the shop watching... then, I said, "맛있어요!" delicious! I could see everyone smiling. I'm surprised they didn't start applauding. * * * Friendly fights Saw a funny fight the other day. Two guys in a restaurant were wrestling with each other, knocking over at least one table. I watched, not really interested in getting involved. They could be two friends fighting over a woman or for some other reason,...

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