Speeches, Interviews, Books, Meetings, and even Cooking (2022-02-22)

Item 1: Cooking Class

Yesterday was a super busy day. North Korean refugee author Songmi Han came to visit, and she brought us some North Korean food with her. Some of the food was so beautiful that it looked like decoration, not food!

I suggested that she should have a cooking class, and she accepted the idea and our team members seem to be excited about making it happen! Stay tuned, I will be posting an invitation via Eventbrite after she finalizes the details.

I might be her assistant, with the main task of not messing up things.

Or I could do my own cooking class? 1) open the microwave door 2) put food inside 3) Stare at it for a few minutes 4) open the microwave door 5) eat.

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Item 2: International Speech coming soon.

FSI Keynote Speaker Minhee Na stopped by the office to talk about a big speech she will be having next month. We should be making an announcement soon.

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Item 3: FSI presentation to University Cork College (Ireland)

Songmi, Bonghee Han, Eunkoo Lee and I were featured speakers at a Conversation with North Korean defectors held by students and staff at University Cork College in Ireland.

It was a great opportunity for Songmi and Bonghee. They gave their first speeches this past weekend, so this gave them another chance to give a speech before an audience (I think there were 30 attendees).

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Item 4: Speech to a South Korean University

I got invited to give a speech to more than 300 South Korean college students on March 30th. I will be inviting our two newest authors to join me.

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Item 5: Giving Tuesday Korea

Eunkoo and I gave speeches about Giving Tuesday Korea.

https://www.fulbright.or.kr/kuva-bbl-feb-23/

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Item 6: Newspaper Interview

I started at 9 am yesterday with an interview by a newspaper reporter who joined our conference over the weekend.

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Item 7: Bad news with Amazon

Books. Yes, books. Our Amazon account is temporarily on hold as Amazon verifies that we are a real business, but the books are still available.

I strongly recommend that you buy the e-books, we are waiting to receive the paperback version of My Father's North Korea Story to do a final check. The paperback of Greenlight to Freedom is coming soon.

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Items 8 through 94

It is really a busy time for us, many things are going on now. This blog post is my temporary escape from the to-do list and many items I need to handle.

As always, we appreciate support for our activities.

#FreedomSpeakersInternational #BongheeHan #MyFathersNorthKoreaStory #Greenlight2freedom #SongmiHan #CaseyLartigue #NorthKoreanfood

2022-12-09 Seoul Honorary Citizenship (ceremony & media roundup)

On September 29, 2022, I was informed that I had been awarded Seoul Honorary Citizenship. December 9th, I was one of the 18 non-Koreans to receive Seoul Honorary Citizenship. I was delighted to have several colleagues and supporters join me at the ceremony. They all have had a special role in my activities here. Here's the media roundup so far: The Korea Times (English) https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2022/12/113_341484.html Yonhap (English) https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20221211001200320 (Korean) https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20221210022100004 (French) https://fr.yna.co.kr/view/AFR20221211001000884 (Spanish) https://sp.yna.co.kr/view/ASP20221211000900883 K-Odyssey https://m.k-odyssey.com/news/newsview.php?ncode=179556481389320 Newsis https://www.newsis.com/view/?id=NISX20221209_0002118460 Chosun https://www.chosun.com/national/national_general/2022/12/11/S2OA76535FCBHFIQI7R5P7HYYM/ Daum News https://v.daum.net/v/20221211111512898 MSN https://www.msn.com/ko-kr/news/n...

2015-01-09 Asia Liberty Forum (Kathmandu, Nepal)

I was pleased to be one of the speakers at the 3rd Asia Liberty Forum, held this time in Kathmandu, Nepal. Freedom Speakers International has presented at the Asia Liberty Forum several times. I was invited in 2014 and have been able to invite North Korean refugees to also speak at the forum. 2014, New Delhi, India Speakers: Chanyang Ju, Casey Lartigue Jr. https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2014/01/07-09-ALF-India.html http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2014/01/137_149698.html https://www.facebook.com/CaseyLartigue/posts/1308010646009594 2015, Kathmandu, Nepal Speaker: Casey Lartigue https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2015/01/2015-01-09-asia-liberty-forum-kathmandu.html 2018 Jakarta, Indonesia Speakers: Eunhee Park, Casey Lartigue FSI was named a finalist for the Asia Liberty Award https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2021/01/11-Asia-liberty-award.html https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/organizations-from-afghanistan-nepal-south-korea-named-finalists-for-asia-l 2019, Colomb...

Race, race, race

On the issue of race: Clinton goes first, (surprisingly) without her Selma accent. Biden doesn’t mention that there is a clean and article black person on the stage. Richardson says the next president must talk about race…we need less talk about race, and more about individual action. Edwards said something, apparently to help us transition to the only somewhat black candidate on the panel. Obama has the home field advantage being at Howard, but doesn’t do much with the initial question. Kucinich says that people are told to raise themselves up by their own bootstraps, but then they steal the boots. He gets the loudest cheers. This will be a long night if that continues... Gravel —who? Dodd —like the 64th team in the NCAA basketball pool, Dodd should be one and done. Brb, I’m checking on the NBA draft… CJL

2016-01-31 Speech coaching

On February 2, 2016, Teach North Korean Refugees (now Freedom Speakers International) will be introducing itself to the American Women's Club. Co-directors Casey Lartigue and Eunkoo Lee will be telling AWC about the wonderful project we co-founded in March 2013. Then three refugees participating in our project will give speeches. One of our speakers is Ken Eom. He's a wonderful guy, he's been in our program since last March. Thanks to his tutors and coaches, as well as his own effort, he has improved so much. His natural sense of humor has always been there, and now with practice and assistance, he has improved so much. The two other speakers will be giving their first public speeches. One of them was a bit nervous, so she asked if she could meet Eunkoo and me today.. Even though I have known her since early 2015, I had never heard her story so it was good for me to get a preview. I'm sure she will do quite well. 2021 update: The lady hiding her face is Eunhee Park. ...

Breen's column that outraged Samsung

“What People Got for Christmas” Michael Breen The Korea Times December 25, 2009 At this time of year when Seoul’s bare winter trees are wrapped in beckoning lights ― blue and white are the in colors ― and Merry Xmas signs at hotels and department stores are really saying come-hither-gentle-reveler-and-empty-your-purse, and when expensive restaurants belch noisy year-end office party groups onto every street and the karaoke rooms are full, it is tempting to declare that Christmas has lost its soul. But that would be a mistake. Christmas is a time for giving, and, before they can be given, gifts have to be bought. Commerce is good. Here, as proof, is a round up of some of the gifts given and received today by people in the news. Samsung, the world’s largest conglomerate and the rock upon which the Korean economy rests, sent traditional year-end cards offering best wishes for 2010 to the country’s politicians, prosecutors and journalists, along with 50 million w...

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