2022-12-04 Harvard Club of Korea annual alumni dinner

On December 1, 2019, I joined the Harvard Club of Korea's annual alumni dinner. Of course, no one in the room knew that the event would be canceled for the next two years because of COVID.

Last night we enjoyed gathering again, with about 90 Harvard alumni and their guests meeting, talking, and networking.

My special guest in 2019 was North Korean refugee Songmi Han. When she joined then she had not heard of Harvard University. I didn't realize just how special that night was for Songmi until we worked together on what became Greenlight to Freedom. This time, she knew what it was and was looking forward to it.

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Mr. Dr. Prof and now Foreign Minister Jin Park was there as a special guest. He is a former president of the Harvard Club and is a special VIP every year. He gave a short speech and also the toast for the event. He gave the most incredible testimonial about me last year. He also remembered Songmi from meeting her earlier this year when she gave him a signed copy of her book.

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I was delighted that former Miss Korea Geum Na-Na remembered me. It has been a few years since I last saw her. I brought Songmi over to her so they could also meet!

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Superman Kent Kim! He has published 17 books in addition to being engaged in a number of global activities. If I ever become truly international it will be because Kent finds a way to fit me into one of his projects.

We met several years ago and he invited me on his TV podcast six years ago.

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The ambassador to Israel was also a special guest last night. He, Songmi, and I were speakers at a Hana Foundation conference in late October.

Two weeks ago, Eunkoo and I bumped into the Ambassador at the KAA Friendship Night. I didn't know who he was six weeks ago, and I have now seen him at three different incredible events.

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There were so many incredible people there last night, I wish there had been more time to talk with more people. Of course, the annual dinner is the key event of the year, but it was great in past years when we also had happy hours.

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A North Korean musician and his South Korean colleague performed for the audience. It was great meeting them. The North Korean musician was recommended to us a while ago and last night we got to meet in person.

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The fun time was the quiz about Harvard's history. Not only did I win for myself, but I also helped Songmi win and was also whispering some of the answers. Finally, the MC detected that something was going on at our table because half of us won prizes! She finally started avoiding our table!

But it didn't matter in my case, because after helping Songmi win, she claimed one of my prizes and I surrendered the other one this morning to FSI co-founder Eunkoo Lee.

I am in charge of FSI but I clearly am not in control.

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I showed up early so I ended up helping the outgoing president of the Harvard Club with setting up.

Claire recently graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She gave me a great compliment when she said that my posts on the Harvard Alumni Facebook page helped her relax because they gave her an idea of what to expect.

I then felt quite welcome with joining the youngsters from the Harvard Graduate School of Education when they took their group photo.

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Mr. Chung is smiling as he grumbles about taking a photo with me at every Harvard alumni dinner.

So much was going on... did I mention that the CFO of Naver participated in a fireside chat?

It started as a photo of me, Songmi and Jamie... then quickly grew!

Another photo that started with just a few of us, then others jumping in!

I caught them being natural!

She really wanted a photo with Songmi!

They allowed me to join the next photo.

There were other name tags but of course I should protect the privacy of others.

"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 ...

Rich talking back

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Michael Breen discussion at 10 Magazine

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Humanitarian with a guillotine (Korea Times, February 1, 2013) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, `` I’m from the government, and I’m here to help .” For many well-intentioned activists, politicians, and intellectuals, that should be updated as: ``We are here to help you. You’re under arrest.” For example, ``sex workers” around the world oppose anti-prostitution laws. Prostitutes may not know the theoretical arguments but they do know in reality that prohibiting prostitution means they lack protection in dealing with abusive pimps and madams, violent patrons and crooked cops. Locally, a Korean woman busted for prostitution recently appealed to the courts pleading , ``I cannot survive without this job. I don’t want to be treated as a criminal for making a living the only way I can.” How should someone who genuinely wants to help her respond? If you say ``arrest her” then you are qualified to be a “harmful humanitarian.” In your desire to help, you have elimin...

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...

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