2019-11-01 Time flies when you're at TNKR

Sometimes people say, "I can't believe it is already Friday!" Or they'll mention the month, "I can't believe it is already November!"

In my case, I can't believe it is already 2019! What happened to 1999, wasn't that just a few years ago?

As fast as time seems to go, it is even faster at TNKR. We had so many meetings today that when I was referring to our first meetings today, I was talking about it like it was on Tuesday, not this morning (Friday).

TNKR Matching Challenge from an American fan

***

Individual Education Plan (IEP)

We had four interviews with North Korean refugees who want to join TNKR. We accepted three of them, but told one refugee that we weren't sure he was ready.

The other three are quite enthusiastic and have a good idea what they want to study. The other young man, unfortunately, isn't really sure why he should study English. Others have encouraged him, but he isn't sure why he needs English. We encouraged him to study elsewhere first, then to return to us in about three months. We have done this a few times as we have raised our standards. Each student has returned to us later after experiencing more of South Korea, more focused, and prepared to study with volunteer tutors.

***

YouTuber Eunhee!

Eunhee Park stopped by the office to talk about her YouTube channel. Please SUBSCRIBE! She has added almost 50 subscribers the last few days, we hope she can get to 1,000.

***

Save the date! Send his father home

December 11 will be the 50th anniversary of a North Korean agent hijacking an airplane to North Korea. This year on December 8, Hwang In-Cheol will be going to Imjingak (near the DMZ) to mark the anniversary and to call on North Korea to return his father to South Korea. TNKR will be there with him, and we hope you will join us. TNKR volunteer Jennifer Bowman, who joined last night's meeting despite a serious leg injury, vowed to join us on the trip to Imjingak.

***

TNKR high school club

***

Open House

I led an orientation with international students who are interested in volunteering with TNKR. Thanks to Sandra Durnick for organizing it, and other things, for TNKR!

***

Dropping in

NK refugee author Lee Juseong dropped by to discuss the latest book he has written and hopes to publish.

Hyunmoo recently joined TNKR, he dropped by TNKR to give a great report about tutoring.

David Lee is visiting from the USA, he dropped by to say hello!

He wrote on Facebook: " it was an honor and pleasure to meet you and Ms. Eunkoo Lee. Hope to see you again! Keep up the great work!
🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️"

Mr. Choi has made several videos for TNKR has aspirations to make a movie that will hit the mainstream. He promises if he makes a lot of money with it that he will donate a lot to TNKR.

TNKR scenes
9th speech contest
10th speech contest

***

So surprised!

She follows North Korean refugee issues, she even shows Yeonmi Park's videos to her graduate students. But she had no idea that I was deeply engaged with North Korean refugees.

***

What's next?

That was in the last few days--did I forget anything? So much going on. But it seems that most of the time, we are still having fun, and headed in the right direction!

TNKR Matching Challenge from an American fan

2014-02-14 Yeon-Mi Park`s debut

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...

Open door to N. Koreans (Korea Times, January 16, 2013) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Open door to N. Koreans By Casey Lartigue, Jr. Last Dec. 12, I fired off an opinion piece of about 1,500 words to the Washington Post. It easily could have been 1,600 words, but I deleted all of the curse words. The day before, I had learned that the United States government had rejected visa applications by three of the students at the Mulmangcho School for North Korean refugee adolescents. Mulmangcho (meaning, ``forget-me-not”) is a small alternative school located in Yeoju, more than an hour south of Seoul. It opened last September with 11 former North Korean children who are orphans or are disadvantaged in some other way. It was founded by former national assembly member Park Sun-young and a distinguished board of directors. Why were the youngsters rejected? The explanation I got: 1) The U.S. government is concerned that they might not return to South Korea and 2) there was a question about their refugee status because they didn’t have pr...

Park Chung-hee: Dictator or benevolent autocrat? (The Korea Herald, July 20, 2011)

The Korea Herald published my analysis of Willam Easterly's paper "Benevolent Autocrats." Check it out at the CFE Website . Easterly questions if "benevolent autocrats" really deserve credit for high economic growth. The Idiots' Collective calls it "a must-read" piece. I agree. [Casey Lartigue, Jr.] Park Chung-hee: Dictator or benevolent autocrat? It ain’t necessarily so. That’s what New York University economics professor William Easterly essentially says about crediting “benevolent autocrats” like South Korea’s Park Chung-hee for high growth rates. In “Benevolent Autocrats,” a provocative working paper posted in May, Easterly 1) argues that economists should be skeptical of the “benevolent autocrat” theory; (2) questions whether benevolent autocrats truly deserve credit for growth; (3) and concedes he is making a losing argument because cognitive biases lead many to believe in benevolent autocrats regardless...

2015-04-25 First-time TNKR speaker

When I hear people say that South Koreans don't care about North Koreans, I have three main responses. 1) North Koreans are one of many groups that South Koreans don't care about. 2) The ones who do care, care a lot! Let's focus on getting them more involved rather focusing on the ones not involved. 3) It may just be that those of us engaged in activism for NK refugees need to try different methods rather than dismissing or denouncing others for not getting involved... http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/01/626_155820.html Last night, Saturday April 25, 2015, I met with two South Koreans to help a North Korean refugee get ready for her first public speech. Thanks so much, TNKR co-director Lee Eunkoo and TNKR coach Clare JH Yun! It will be a challenge, will be this particular speaker's first speech in English. She is also a newcomer to English. But her determination, wow! She is studying with a few coaches in the Teach North Korean Refugees project. I wish...

복날

Tomorrow is 복날 ( bok nal ). It seems to mean that it is start of the dog days of summer. So we'll be eating 삼계탕 ( sam gye tang, which is chicken broth with ginseng) to celebrate the day before the rest of Korea does so. Update #1 : You must literally rip the chicken apart with chopsticks and a spoon. It helps to wear a bib so it won't get on your clothes. The food is cooked after you order it or call ahead with reservations . Update #2 : It is pronounced by me as bok nal , but when I say it Koreans around me don't understand until I pronounce it as " bok nallllllll ." This is a common problem with the little Korean that I can say. I'll say it, Koreans will say I speak Korean well, then ask each other in Korean, "What did he say?" Update #3 : James explains that I am probably pronouncing bok nal incorrectly. Instead, it is probably better to pronounce it "bong nahl ." I have the feeling I still won't be understood unless I say ...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

Search This Blog