FSI's Week in Review (9/12-9/18)

North Korean refugee authors

Youngnam Eom visited the office to discuss his book. He first joined us in 2015 even before we had established an official organization.

Eunmi Park visited the office to discuss her book. She first joined us in 2014 shortly after she arrived in South Korea. When she was ready to publish her book she came to us even though we are still newbies in the publishing world.

Eunmi even publicly announced that she was publishing her book with us. She comes to our office often to work on her book. It helps that she can spend time discussing it in Korean with FSI co-founder Eunkoo Lee.

Others can help with discussing the outline, structure, which things to emphasize, etc. But still, being an author means spending a lot of time by yourself. When it is a memoir, it means reflecting on yourself, your life and others who have been harmful or helpful.

YouTube recording

Eunkoo Lee and I did a recording with FSI keynote speaker Yusung Park for a huge organization. I don’t enjoy such recordings but will do them when asked. We should be posting the link soon.

Songmi Han updates

• She published a lovely excerpt from her memoir Greenlight to Freedom at the Voices from the North blog at the Korea Times.

• Songmi did an interview with North Korean refugee influencer Kang Nara which so far has been uploaded in three different parts. Of course, I was delighted when they mentioned me in this one and showed the book.

By the way, Nara was one of our students in 2018 and she was one of the refugees who was in the incredible Happy Birthday video for me.

• An FSI fan designed a Greenlight to Freedom ice tumbler! Because Songmi will be going to the USA we thought this could be an opportunity to ship them at a much cheaper rate than the crazy COVID international shipping rates.

Act now! We will be processing the orders at the close of business on September 20th KST and will ship them directly from the USA.

Cato Institute

The Cato Institute has invited me to be a panelist at a forum on October 18th. Please check with the Cato Institute for registration and event information. It is a good reminder or will inform others that my professional career didn’t start with North Korean refugees.

https://www.cato.org/events/assessing-two-decades-education-reform-catos-center-educational-freedom-turns-20

Speech with tourists

I posted about it already, check here!

Board of directors

FSI co-founder Eunkoo Lee and I made a presentation before FSI’s board of directors about our vision for the organization. It was an incredible meeting and a reminder about how the organization has gone from nothing to something special.

Eunkoo is shy, she prefers not to engage in public speaking, so my style is to tell her "no problem, you don't have to speak," then call on her anyway.

She used to thank me for not pushing her to speak and for taking the lead in outreach, I have been telling her for a few years that eventually we would need Koreans to be the public face of FSI. Lately she has been thanking me for pushing her to speak.

Our board is stronger than ever. The next time we meet, I am going to give a presentation about my own experiences on boards of directors.

Formerly, I was a member of the following boards of directors and boards of trustees:

* Black Alliance for Educational Options

* Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association

* Dupont Circle Public Charter School

* The Young Executive Board of the Washington Scholarship Fund

* The William Doar Public Charter School for the Performing Arts

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FSI

Greenlight to Freedom

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...

2018-09-28 Not everyone at KFC cooks chickens

Most of the people who contact us at TNKR naturally want to tutor North Korean refugees. Many potential volunteers are shocked shocked shock ed to learn that they can volunteer with TNKR in other ways. I tell many of them: "Not everyone at KFC cooks chickens. There are also delivery people, accountants, marketers, personnel, and a host of other positions." Earlier this year, we began developing the TNKR Volunteer Leadership Academy. I'm still waiting for someone to take over that little project. Until then, I will continue with developing it. And be developing it, I mean telling people, "Don't write me a long business plan about what you would like to do. Just start doing it, keep me updated and in the conversations, then let's talk and update." We have had a recent influx of volunteers who want to help TNKR in other ways. Jackie Cole is now running our Instagram. She constantly surprises me with the flyers and videos she posts. I made it clear from the ...

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,...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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