2017-02-21 Leaving the TNKR cave to meet the Mayor of Mapo-gu

With the mayor of mapo-gu (standing on my right)

A great thing about having an office? You have a place to invite guests to meet you.

A bad thing about having an office? I don't want to go out to meet other people.

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During a particularly unstable time in TNKR's history, I was shuttling between the Freedom Factory office near the National Assembly and the temporary TNKR office near Itaewon Station. Some days, I would start the day at Freedom Factory, head over to Itaewon, then go back to Freedom Factory.

Now we have our own office. There are some days that I don't leave the office and have even slept at the office so I could get to work when I wake up. When I go out, it feels like I have been in a cave, but caveman style like that feeling of playing my favorite video games for weeks. It is more difficult to get me out for meetings these days.

But today, I did go out for a meeting.

Today we met the Mayor of Mapo-gu, he wanted to hear about TNKR. Apparently someone at the mayor's office got into trouble because the mayor found out that there is an incredible organization in his district that is being run by volunteers helping North Korean refugees. A staffer rushed to collect news clips about TNKR. They clearly had done their research about us.

We moved into the area July 2016, so it only took them seven months to find us.

Apparently the mayor was like, "What? This is happening in my backyard, and no one told me about it? What the hey?"

Well, those probably weren't the mayor's exact words, but anyway, he now knows TNKR.

After the meeting with the mayor, we talked in more detail with one of the staff members. I don't expect that anything will ever come out of the meeting.

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Manufactured cases

My former Cato Institute colleague Bob Levy is profiled by the Associated Press for his role in the challenge to the DC gun ban. One great thing about Levy is that he tells it like it is. As the article quotes: And Levy freely admits the case is manufactured, not one that bubbled up by chance from the district's steady flow of criminal cases involving guns. He wanted presentable plaintiffs to make a case for gun rights, not criminals. "We didn't want crack heads and bank robbers to be poster boys for the Second Amendment," he said. Is there a problem with this case being manufactured? I heard a talking head on the radio complaining a while ago that this case wasn't from real DC residents, that it was from outsiders. What's wrong with that? There may be some times that it takes an outsider to challenge an injustice or bad law. Did DC residents claim that Martin Luther King Jr. was an outsider who should have minded his own business? And about the case being ...

2020-11-26 My basketball story

This photo was uploaded today by my aunt Annette. This was back in the day, when 1) I had a head full of hair and 2) played basketball a lot. That first year of playing organized basketball, I focused on playing defense. It seemed that everyone wanted to shoot the ball, so I passed the ball and played defense. I probably led the league in steals, rebounds and blocked shots. I enjoyed taking on the best player from the other team, I felt like I would get better, quickly. The second year, I was a different player. I will never forget the first game that second year--we lost 29 to 26, I scored 18 points. I probably led the universe in scoring that second year, although we didn't win much. One thing I learned from that experience is that one great player 9 (at least in his own mind) can't beat a team. An eye injury ended my pro career before it began, to this day I still have floaters in my eyes because of the injury. I started wearing glasses, but the problem never went away. On t...

KC=GQ

I am featured in the April 2013 issue of 2032 Magazine.

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

"Yoegi Anjuseyo!"

* I have a short reflection in today's Korea Times about an encounter with an unfriendly looking Korean man on the subway. It was a reminder not to be too quick in judging people in Korea. 09-13-2011 16:47 'Yeogi Anjeuseyo!' By Casey Lartigue Jr. The recent incident in which an American English teacher bullied an elderly Korean man and other passengers on the bus reminded me of a more pleasing incident from years ago. I was on the subway, taking the train outside of Seoul for a work assignment. I have the habit of standing on the subway to strategically position myself near the doors in case my stop magically appears. On that particular day, there was a Korean man STARING at me. Not just looking at me, but intensely staring at me. He had an incredible frown on his face. Not just for one stop, but for several stops the guy just kept staring at me. If I had known more Korean then I would have been able to curse him ...

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