A day at the FSI office (2022-12-13)

FSI co-founder Eunkoo Lee is in charge of FSI's schedule. That means we have many meetings when I don’t schedule to be out of the office.

* 7 am, Zoom call about a non-FSI project. I am a co-founder of tFSI but I am engaged in some activities outside of FSI.

* 10 am, Zoom call about a possible FSI event in June with Ivy League students.

* 10:30 am, Meeting at the FSI office with visitors from the USA. They bought 10 copies of Greenlight to Freedom directly from FSI. We had a great conversation about the meeting last week. They have a better understanding of FSI and asked if we were a 501(c)3 based in the USA.

* 11:00 a.m., I sent an update to volunteers joining this Sunday's orientation sessions.

* 11:15 am, Meeting with a North Korean refugee who is joining FSI as a speaker. She showed the draft of her speech. Her husband had said the speech didn't make sense, which I confirmed in a more gentle way. I took her speech apart and showed her three different approaches to the same speech. I avoid taking over speeches, I see my role as getting them prepared to engage in self-learning and also partnering with mentors rather than looking to them as Gods.

* 12:00 noon, lunch.

* 1 pm, I followed up with a Seoul City official about being named a Seoul Honorary Citizen.

* 1:30 pm, Eunkoo Lee hounded me to handle another institutional matter in the USA. When it involves money Eunkoo never forgets.

* 2:00 pm, Meeting with a North Korean refugee who has joined FSI as a speaker. She was blown away by this first mentoring session, she said it taught her how to look at her speech in a new way.

* 3:00 pm, An Inspector from the Seoul City Government visited the office to inspect FSI. Accepting government money also means getting inspected by government authorities. Support FSI so we can remain an independent organization.

* 5:00 pm, Meeting with a North Korean refugee who is joining us after 8 years of knowing us. I met him in 2014 when he was still a high school student. At last, he is joining us!

* 5:50 pm, Eunkoo followed up about payments and collections. If you owe FSI money, just send it. Eunkoo will find you eventually. And she sends out FSI's payments on time and often ahead of time.

* 6:00 pm, I viewed and approved the sketch video from Mr. Hwang's trip to Imjingak.

* 6:15 pm, Meeting with a South Korean who is a best-selling author and made it clear he is a big fan of FSI.

Eunkoo Lee: TNKR's #1 Settler

If I could convince TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee that we needed to start executing volunteers, then she would quickly come up with a schedule with their names and execution times. She would do it fairly and orderly, accepting no exceptions or changes. If I suggested a change, then an argument would start about me being "Mr. Changeable" interrupting the schedule. That is how I have worked with Eunkoo Lee over the past seven years. She must be convinced, but once she believes in something, she charges ahead. What she is NOT interested in is public relations or dealing with media. I say this to people, but they don't believe me. But like the minister said after witnessing a baptism, "Not only do I believe in baptism, but I've seen it done!" * * * It has happened again! Someone noticed that my bio is much longer than Eunkoo's. I have heard a number of gripes from people over the years, ranging from Eunkoo should be featured more to I should step aside

Earth Hour 2013 Man of the Year!!!

In case you missed it, last night was Earth Hour. That's when people around the world turn off their lights for one hour to show concern for the Earth. The idea originated from the World Wildlife Fund. Bouncing off Don Boudreaux, I would like to announce that Kim Jong-Un is the Earth Hour 2013 Man of the Year. Kim Jong-Un, Earth Hour's 2013 Man of the Year I won't read through his resume and accomplishments to make my case, I will point out this satellite photo showing the difference between the two Koreas. North Korea, where every day is "Earth Hour." Not only is the dashing young dictator's regime focused on keeping North Koreans in the dark more than just one hour a year, but he is now leading a government that is threatening to blow up other countries for various reasons. He has ordered his military to strike with "lightening speed"--apparently confusing lightening speed with lightening, and thinking that lightening can bring ligh

Helping North Koreans 'strike the blow' (Korea Times)

H ave you ever engaged in action not because you were sure it would change the world, but to satisfy your own heart? That, I emailed to an American friend, is why I have joined the effort to help North Koreans who are trying to escape from their homeland. I can’t change the direction of policy in North Korea or China but I can row the boat I am sitting in rather than lamenting that I can’t steer the yachts somewhere else. So I have tried to do what I can: Attending protests in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul (and I plan to do so when I visit America in April); donating money to the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights ( www.nkhumanrights.or.kr ); educating myself, writing articles and emailing friends; and, as a member of the board of trustees, I recently submitted a resolution to the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association (FDMHA) in Washington, D.C., to try to call attention to the plight of North Koreans. Our organization’s missi

North Korean defector seeks justice (Korea Times)

It was international news when 12 North Korean waitresses and a male manager who worked at a restaurant operated by the North Korean regime in China arrived in South Korea in 2016. The waitresses have mostly maintained a low profile. There have been numerous accusations and assertions, with some saying the waitresses didn't want to escape, some accused the Park Geun-hye administration of playing politics by releasing details of the case, etc., etc., etc. My blog at the Korea Times today features an exclusive interview with one of the former North Korean waitresses who filed a criminal case against the former manager. You can read about it here on the Korea Times website. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/02/728_345165.html Keep in mind that there are many more facts to the case and that it is much deeper than this brief excerpt of her comments. She also shared legal documents that I shared with the Korea Times well in advance to give them time to review the case. *

2019-06-29 Another Special Saturday

"When are you going to wrap this up?" That's what a whippersnapper asked me near the end of Q&A yesterday, after I had given a speech to North Korean refugee adolescents and their mentors. Thanks to Prof. Shin Hye-young for arranging the session. I'm a man with a lot of self-esteem, but it was tested on Saturday by those kids (more photos below) www.lovetnkr.org/donate

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