2018-07-31 Better targets for North Korea

Some people amuse me when they suggest that I might be on North Korea's target list. As I tell them: "You really need to stop watching spy dramas."

Yesterday I was in a room with several people who probably are targeted by North Korea. In the case of Park Sang-hak, he actually had an assassin attempt to poison him. And then there are others who criticize North Korea at the international level, and in Korean. I'm happy they are working so hard, it makes sure that if my name is on North Korea's target list, that it is so far down the list that I will die of old age rather than getting killed by a North Korean agent.

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Jung Gwang-il is a North Korean refugee who has been criticizing and mocking the North Korean regime for years. Wouldn't the NK government want to knock him off before they got to the guy teaching English to NK refugees?

Kim Suk-woo was the vice minister for the Ministry of Unification. He has been criticizing North Korea at the national level for a number of years.

Ambassador Lee was South Korea's Ambassador for North Korean Human Rights and founded the Yonsei Center for Human Liberty raising awareness about NK human rights violations.

Signe Poulsen was head of the UN's Seoul office for five years, leading the effort to monitor and criticize NK publicly and surely doing things behind the scenes.

Sehyek was the winner of TNKR's second English speech contest and he does a lot of work behind the scenes about NK human rights.

Greg speaks fluent Korean, he has been criticizing North Korea directly for a number of years, attacking that psychotic country's dismal human rights record.

2020 comment: As I have said for years, I am more likely to be targeted by the South Korean rather than the NK government.

In Park Sang-hak's case, it has turned out to be both government's have come after him. NK did it the brutal way--sending an assassin after him a few years ago. The South Korean government did it the Democratic way--delisting his organization, investigating him, and doing what it can to starve his organization.

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 ...

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

Freedom Factory Shareholder Meeting (2015-01-31)

Re: Building something out of nothing Freedom Factory is a very small company, of which I am a shareholder. Yesterday we had our annual shareholder meeting. Freedom Factory is allowing us to "incubate" TNKR until we can stand on our two own feet--or at least crawl on our four hands and feet. (Consumer Rights Watch is in the same position). I owe special thanks to FF CEO 김정호. He is a "true believer" in the cause of freedom, so he is allowing both projects to grow out of FF. That's even though Freedom Factory is a small start up with the CEO, staff and supporters wondering how we are going to achieve our dreams with such a tight budget. So when I say I am so thankful to the volunteers and donors of TNKR, it isn't just lip service. Volunteers--along with Freedom Factory, the Atlas Network, donors--are helping us to create something out of nothing, helping North Korean refugees find their own way and tell their own stories. Like the FF CEO, I also don...

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 ...

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...

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