The Casey Lartigue Show!

    Yaron Brook is an author, commentator, YouTuber, entrepreneur, and chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute. He mentioned me at the beginning of a recent YouTube show (starting from the :53 mark). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPZfFoHYADs&t=53s

  Yeonmi Park, FSI's first North Korean Refugee Ambassador, mentioned Songmi Han, author of FSI's second book, during her YouTube video, starting shortly after the 3:15 mark. https://youtu.be/1NRT5Q8e4tk?t=199 Songmi Han was interviewed by a YouTube influencer (in Korean). Part 1 [ 한송미_1부 ] and Part 2 [ 한송미_2부 ]. Both videos have more than 100,000 views. And part 3 should be coming today. 3) Songmi did another recording in Korean about 10 days ago and has two more requests from influential YouTubers.  4) Songmi will be doing another YouTube recording today.  5) She has other offers to do interviews in Korean. She is a bit shy about her English so I haven't tried to pursue such opportunities for her, but they may come soon.  Follow Greenlight to Freedom on Patreon .

  Exaggerating NK refugee activism (koreatimes.co.kr)

  Comrade, do you have a dissenting opinion? (koreatimes.co.kr)

  What Action To Take To Help North Korean People - Casey Lartigue - YouTube

Rushing to judgment on a defector By Casey Lartigue, Jr. Have you ever read an article that you knew was wrong or incomplete based on your inside knowledge? That was the case as I read a 3,000-word commentary by reporter Mary Ann Jolley challenging statements by North Korean refugee Park Yeon-mi. Jolley questioned if Park had really witnessed the execution of a friend's mother for watching a Hollywood movie, in Hyesan, North Korea. Jolley quoted North Korea scholar Andrei Lankov who questioned the likelihood of the account, as well as an unnamed 59-year-old refugee from Hyesan who "laughed" that such a thing had happened there. The problem? Park didn't say the execution occurred in Hyesan. I know this because since last April I have recorded hours of detailed interviews with Park to help document her story. Park was born in Hyesan and later lived in Pyongyang, but moved to the countryside after her father was impr...

Dearest Casey,   Congratulations! Your colleague  Yeonmi Park  has been named in the  BBC's Top 100 Women in the World 2014 . This has meant she has given speeches around the world and been  featured in major media  such as the  New York Times  and  Huffington Post . This all occurred in the last two weeks of October. Who would have believed she would become so well known internationally?   Actually, you did. You have known it since  Feb. 14, 2014, when you spoke together at an international school located outside of Seoul . On the subway coming back from the discussion, you told Yeonmi, one of the 124 North Korean refugees in your  Teach North Korean Refugees Project  (TNKR), that she had the potential to become a leading advocate for liberty. She didn't believe you, but you offered to help make it happen: "If you don't become a star for liberty, raising awareness and attracting others to get involved, then that ...

What an honor! I'm mentioned at length in an article about Yeonmi Park in the Chosun-Ilbo , the largest newspaper in South Korea. http://blog.chosun.com/blog.log.view.screen?blogId=486&logId=7581526 박씨는 북한의 실상을 알리기 위해 영어를 공부하기 시작했다. 지난 2009년엔 알파벳만 아는 수준이었지만, 탈북자들에게 영어 교육을 하는 미국인 케이시 라티그를 만난 이후 꾸준히 공부해 지금은 유창하게 영어를 구사한다. 당시 박씨는 미국 드라마인 ‘프렌즈’의 전회를 20번씩 반복해 보는 일도 있었다고 한다. 하루에 9시간 씩 영어를 공부했다. 케이시는 박연미씨 외에도 117명의 탈북자에게 영어를 가르치고 있는데, 박씨는 그 중에서도 가장 성실한 학생이었다고 한다. 박씨는 이후 미국과 코스타리카로 자원 봉사활동도 다녀왔다. Casey Lartigue, with Yeonmi Park, in Hong Kong recording a TV podcast.

BBC World Service --"21-year-old Yeonmi Park and her epic escape from North Korea" BBC Radio --"Lies cannot last forever"--North Korea defector on her home country Independent (UK) -- "When Silence is not an option" Yeonmi Park profiled by the Independent (UK) Yahoo News --"Escaping North Korea: one refugee's story" Al Jazeera --"A Life in Exile, escaping North Korea"  http://m.aljazeera.com/story/20141015154253291240 Al Jazeera  Facebook page --https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/posts/10152867626258690 Radio Free Asia --"탈북자 박연미 씨, 유럽서 북 인권 고발" Lollipop --"Pretty law student becomes international celebrity after daring escape from North Korea" Huffington Post --"One Young World Conference That Established The First Rape Clinic In Somalia, Kicks Off In Dublin" One Young World --"Dublin welcomes young leaders from 194 countries to One Young World" Giir...

(Malaysia) Yangtze Cruise and Tours Sdn Bhd president Tan Han Soong said contrary to many reports on North Korea, the country had much to offer. “North Korea is a good place to travel and it’s near China, so there are more opportunities. There is no AIDS, no theft and no beggars, and the people are educated. Pyongyang is really beautiful, with many high-rise buildings. In August and September last year, more than 1,000 people (from Malaysia) travelled to North Korea and the feedback has been very good." http://www.thestar.com.my/story/?file=%2F2009%2F3%2F9%2Fcentral%2F3434899 (Hat tip to Kelvin Hew) UN COI findings about North Korea “These crimes against humanity entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starva...

The Casey Lartigue Show with YeonMi Park! By Casey Lartigue, Jr. Greetings! You are tuned to the " Casey Lartigue Show with YeonMi Park ," a new TV talk show online at JKJ TV. I am delighted to welcome you to our lovely bi-weekly show that will focus on North Korea and North Korean refugee issues. My name is Casey Lartigue and I am the main host of the show, but the success of the show will depend on my co-host, YeonMi Park, a North Korean refugee who has lived in South Korea for five years. As far as we know, this is the first regular podcast or talk show featuring a North Korean refugee speaking English. YeonMi, a junior concentrating in Criminal Justice at Dongguk University, will be our guide. When she isn't studying like her life depends on it, she is doing everything else like her life depends on it. She is a regular guest on a weekly Korean cable TV show that features female North ...

  We will soon be launching the Casey and Yeon Mi Show. Too much to say so I will say it a bit later, too many to thank, so I will thank them all later. Special thanks to  My co-host Yeon Mi Park for agreeing to join me, even though English is not her first language.  김정호 who suggested the idea of me hosting an online show and then didn't complain as I completely changed the format, focus and found a co-host he had never met. 정규재 for agreeing to allow us to host the show on his channel Producer Kim Hyung Jin for his guidance. We had been expecting that our producer would give us some tips. After we got settled he said, "Go!" in Korean. And thus our podcast started. I pretended not to notice that Yeonmi was with me, she asked, "Am I invisible? But as I told her: She would be internationally known one day, I just hoped that she would remember my name. And she has! I wrote about it here a month later:  The Casey Lartigue Show with YeonMi Park! (koreatimes.co.kr) Yes, Ye...

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...