Skip to main content

2019-12-23 Back at the office!

* Korea Times bloggers' luncheon
* Street interview
* Minwoo's donation
* Mentoring
* Eye Contact


Early morning

I got to the office early, I have a long to-do list, and many people keep reminding me about things I need to do.

Korea Times Bloggers' luncheon

I skipped out early for lunch. Unfortunately, my suit wasn't ready, so I went dressed as I was--a walking advertisement for Harvard University. Because of so much going on, I took a bit of a break from blogging.




Street interview

One of the reporters asked me for an interview right after lunch. At first I declined, knowing I wasn't dressed professionally. But then decided, "What the hell?" So I did it, and enjoyed it! I thought to interview her for my blog, but I knew I had meetings waiting for me at the office.




Seoul Pub Crawl

What's your TNKR Membership level? Minwoo Kim is now a TNKR Patron!

In the last three years, the Seoul Pub Crawl has raised more than 2 million won for TNKR!

Today Minwoo donated 737,000 won ($635 USD) to TNKR from the Seoul Pub Crawl's recent event.

It will support TNKR's new project for hiring North Korean refugee interns in the office, so it means we have enough funding for the first month! https://give.lovetnkr.com/en/NK-internsTNKR 

Membership https://lovetnkr.org/members/





Mentoring

Now that TNKR is in less danger of collapsing, I am focusing on a few projects and activities I have had in mind. One is that a number of North Korean refugees studying in TNKR have asked me to mentor them. I had many reasons to hold off on embracing this, but for a variety of reasons I have decided to take this on during 2020.

Today we met with a North Korean refugee for almost 2 hours discussing and assisting with her future plans.


Eye Contact

Tonight from 9:50 PM, I will be a prop for a feature on a North Korean refugee in TNKR. I won't be watching it, but hopefully friends and others will tell me good things about it. :-)


Interview with me (English)
Eye Contact scene (English and Korean)

Popular posts from this blog

Rich talking back

The rich are talked about very often in negative terms, but how often do the rich respond in kind? Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, who inherited most of her money but apparently has also done very well with it, recently railed against class warfare and had some advice for the non-rich : "There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working."   She complained about politicians raising taxes, regulations that slow investment, and other anti-business policies that harm the poor. "If you want to help the poor and our next generation, make investment, reinvenstment and businesses welcome."

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 photos from today

I went walking around today. Whereas some people like to go walking in the mountains, I enjoy walking around in the city. Well, not D.C. or other cities with many homeless, crazy and/or armed people walking around... * * * Here's where I had lunch today. About $1.90 for a hamburger hamberger.   * * * Ha-ha! Bet you never would have guessed that Batman is a drinking place in Korea! * * * Man Clinic? The Koreans walking by seemed to be very curious about why I was taking a photo of a "Man Clinic." They may know something I don't know...Actually, I wasn't curious enough to go in and find out what it was... * * * Right down the street from the Man Clinic...there's a Love Shop! I love the euphemism. "Love Shop" sounds much better than Sex Shop. I'm guessing that if you don't go to the "Love Shop" to buy condoms that you may need to visit the Man Clinic a short time later? * * * Nobo...

Last weekend: Suicide, Kim Young Ha, NK

Credit: Joanne Cho Event 1: Friday night I went to a talk given by Fulbright junior researcher Joanne Cho. She did a great job putting together statistics about some of the most commonly cited reasons that so many Koreans commit suicide. Probably the most provocative tidbit: Cho watched 86 dramas from the spring of 2012 to now, she says that 63 had "scenes depicting or discussing suicide" in a favorable light (as a way to solve problems, that troubled people can be forgiven for their sins and are even seen as sympathetic).  Another interesting tidbit: While it is often cited that Korea is number one in the world in suicide (among countries reporting reliable statistics), what I had not realized or had forgotten is that Korean men are number 8 in the world compared to men in other countries with reliable statistics, Korean women are #1 in the world when compared to women in other countries. My questions for the speaker: 1) What was a finding in your research th...

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