2014-09-05 Hong Kong Special b-day (Sodam + Henri Schneider)

Yeonmi Park and I were invited to Hong Kong to do a live recording of our TV show, plus I was invited to present the results of a Freedom Factory survey.

* The trip started with my suitcase getting bounced to the next flight. Too much comedy related to this...

* Henri Schneider, the chief economist of the Swiss Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, wanted to treat me to dinner. He even postponed returning to Switzerland an extra day so we could meet. He's a serious guy with a cynical and hilarious streak. But he had a great time with my team from Korea! 

* Sodam Jeong--I'm still laughing! She MADE a mini-me of my head as a gift. That's right, she made it! I couldn't stop laughing when I saw it. Even if she breaks into my home, steals my TV or even kills my dreams, I will always be able to forgive her. Plus, she bought me a selfie stick. Check my photos, I am rarely pictured alone, and I don't do selfies, either. But a selfie stick to take photos with others? Just last week I was whining about having to ask random people on the street. Problem solved. Thanks, Sodam!

* Sodam was the inspiration for my "To be a good volunteer, use your brain" column.

And Henri inspired my column from earlier this year about Koreans looking to other countries for economic and social models.
As I've written about Henri Schneider before.

* We were at the Lei Garden restaurant. I am guessing that we won't be allowed back in. We took over the restaurant with the mini-me head, and then with the selfie cam. People were taking pictures of us taking pictures of ourselves.

* Henri said that he took more photos in just a few hours with us than he has in the past 20 years. Perhaps I should send him one of those selfie sticks for his birthday...

It was a great way to start the trip to Hong Kong.

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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 ...

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."

To be a good volunteer, use your brain (Korea Times, December 5, 2012)

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Why I won't go to North Korea (Korea Times, December 27, 2012)

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...

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...

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