2021-02-10 Happy Birthday Eunkoo Lee

Happy Birthday Eunkoo Lee!

Margaret Thatcher supposedly said, "If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman."

That certainly has been true of FSI (formerly TNKR)!

I have been the public face of the organization, but behind-the-scenes, there has always been Eunkoo Lee. Some people have tried to get her to speak out, to do media, to become a public figure. When feminists have discovered our organization, they have tried to ignore me to highlight Eunkoo and some have griped that I "don't give Eunkoo opportunities" to do interviews. Haha!!! They would get a big surprise when they tried to invite her because she wasn't interested in the spotlight.

In our early days, Eunkoo had good excuses. One, she said she was shy and didn't want to do interviews. Two, she was working at a huge government agency. TNKR then was volunteer work that she did on weekends. Korean supervisors and employers don't like seeing their staffers involved in work that has nothing to do with their paid jobs. So she had good reason to avoid the spotlight.

Then after she quit her paid job to focus on TNKR, she lost that excuse--and I began including her in media opportunities, often against her will. That led to big fights, as she insisted that she wasn't interested in such things and thanked me for doing all of the interviews.

She was clear: she wanted to do the work that was necessary to help this fledgling project grow into an actual organization. We are still humble, still growing. She has definitely done that. As Margaret Thatcher said, if you want something done, ask a woman.

Today our staff surprised Eunkoo with a birthday party. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9MLktAEOY0&list=PLn7xtnmarHFo0ddUJrmXFFN6Wd2VyrL9I&index=2

She has set up a fundraiser to celebrate her birthday. As a "shy Korean lady," even setting up this kind of fundraiser was a big challenge for her. She's not on Facebook so I have to post it for her. Happy Birthday Eunkoo Lee! - TNKR (lovetnkr.com)

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

Teach North Korean Refugees Project

On November 1, we will be holding the 20th "Teach North Korean Refugees Project" session. The project launched in March 2013 when Casey Lartigue Jr. and Lee Eunkoo matched 5 North Korean refugees who were teachers in North Korea with 5 English speaking volunteers. The refugees wanted to improve their English in order to improve their chances to become teachers in South Korea. We met at a Toz in Gangnam, matching them. We have directly matched at least 117 NK refugees and 8 South Koreans who assist NK refugees with 164 English speaking volunteers. We have since hosted numerous sessions with a number of themes matching NK refugees with volunteer English speakers: * Staff at NGOs helping NK refugees (to help refugees working at NGOs and also helping NGOs build up their capacity) * special summer or winter study sessions (for students who have more free time during the break, look for another session in late December and early to mid January 2015) * Bring or recommend a

From nothing to something super special (2023-02-10)

FSI has moved into a better institutional neighborhood where we are the poorest in the area. In August 2022, I was elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Freedom Speakers International (FSI) and in January 2023 FSI achieved incorporation status in South Korea. This has meant that FSI must upgrade operations and structure and I am the one, as chairman and co-president, who will be blamed if it doesn’t happen. I really should not be the chairman, for a variety of reasons, but anyway I am. Eunkoo and I are not the typical executives of a growing organization. In addition to being mainly responsible for building and fundraising for the organization, we are the hands-on leaders who are constantly in contact with North Korean refugee speakers. We look forward to the day we can afford staff to handle many tasks. Until then we can expect to continue having more days like yesterday, even on Eunkoo’s birthday. 2023-02-10 Meeting #1: planning We started Eunkoo’s birthday with a planning

2014-02-14 Yeon-Mi Park`s debut

Yeonmi Park, February 14, 2014, making her debut! Yesterday I was one of the speakers at a special session on North Korean refugees at the Canadian Maple International School. Wow, it was a wonderful time! * Yeon-Mi Park delivered her first major speech in English. She was wonderful! She told her story (35 minute speech without notes), discussed different aspects of North Korea, and then handled questions from students for more than an hour. She did seem to be nervous at the beginning-she took a deep breath just as she started, looked at me, then told her story from her heart. * Returning from the speech, I told Yeonmi that she had star potential. She told me that she didn't believe it, but I told her that the way she handled Q&A and told her story, I would be lucky to have her still returning my phone calls within a year. * The students had many questions. They have been learning about North Korea. They are now reading "Escape from Camp 14" featuring Shin Dong-h

CFE forum on Korea-EU FTA (Korea Herald)

Public forum on FTA on Thursday 2011-07-05 19:21 A conference on economic opportunities and challenges arising from the Korea-EU FTA which came into effect on July 1 will take place in Seoul on Thursday. The conference, taking place at the Koreana Hotel from 2 p.m., will also examine the current economic crisis in Europe and economic development in Korea. The event is being jointly hosted by the Center for Free Enterprise, a Seoul-based free market think-tank, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, a German foundation for the promotion of individual freedom which has offices around the world including in Seoul. “We picked the date hoping National Assembly members wouldn’t find a way to delay the agreement going into effect. So this is really timely because we are holding this less than a week after the agreement went into effect,” said Casey Lartigue Jr., manager of international relations at the CFE. Speakers at the conference titled “Economic Freedom

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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