By Casey Lartigue Jr.
Interruptions are the norm when it comes to North Korea. In recent years, it has been missile launches, but North Korea occasionally even flips its script of interruptions. Back on August 22, 2015, North Korea was threatening to blow up loudspeakers on the South Korean side of the DMZ, imposing a 5 pm deadline. I remember it clearly because at about the same time, I was going to be wrapping up an English speech contest featuring North Korean refugees. That day, none of the refugees expressed fear at speaking even with the impending deadline, it was just North Korea being North Korea.
This past Saturday, I hosted another English speech contest featuring North Korean refugees, but the latest interruption from the North was not the norm. As usual, North Korea grabbed headlines, with people wondering how the big countries would respond to the brazen assassination of the half-brother of the current North Korean dictator. The assassination sent shockwaves through the local North Korean refugee community, and probably sent the message that the current dictator meant to send: Anyone thought to be challenging the North Korean regime is at risk.
The Hana Foundation posted a notice on its website warning refugees to be careful. There were news reports the same day both that Thae Yong Ho, the high level North Korean ambassador who recently escaped to South Korea, would continue activities and others stating he would suspend his activities.
Our latest speech contest suddenly had a problem because a few of the refugees who have identified themselves publicly said they felt less comfortable speaking. Another refugee who already preferred to remain anonymous seemed to be on the verge of withdrawing from the contest. Only one of the seven contestants allowed himself to be photographed and video recorded.
We made some changes to the contest, such as making it off-the-record, there would be no video, audio or photographs, and guests were forbidden to ask the refugees for their contact information (some knuckleheads asked refugees for their contact information anyway). The contest could have been destroyed by contestants dropping out, but as one of the refugees told me later, we had provided a safe zone for them to speak. How safe was it? Some of the people who travel to North Korea often join the contest, sitting at the back of the room and refusing to join the group photo at the end. We aren't always sure of their intentions.
Was the concern of refugees justified? There have been some assassinations of refugees and others have been targeted, but they are engaged in activities headed in North Korea's direction. They are the ones sending air balloons, USB drives, or have inside information about the regime. I have been saying that for years, but I felt less confident making that point when refugees expressed their concern so directly.
It was another beautiful speech contest. As I said in my introductory remarks, it was a speech celebration, the opportunity for seven brave people to talk about the moment that had triggered their escape from North Korea to freedom in the outside world. North Korea being North Korea had almost interrupted the event, but their new norm, from that moment they chose to escape from North Korea despite the risks, was about overcoming. That's how they had the courage to get on stage in front of 130 people to give thoughtful speeches in English. They later sent us beautiful messages discussing how much they loved giving speeches last Saturday. None of them mentioned the assassination.
Casey Lartigue Jr. is the co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR) in Seoul. He can be reached at CJL@post.harvard.edu. He participated in the latest Korea Times Roundtable on North Korea and contributed this column, a precursor to the one-page coverage Tuesday.
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This past Saturday, I hosted another English speech contest featuring North Korean refugees, but the latest interruption from the North was not the norm. As usual, North Korea grabbed headlines, with people wondering how the big countries would respond to the brazen assassination of the half-brother of the current North Korean dictator. The assassination sent shockwaves through the local North Korean refugee community, and probably sent the message that the current dictator meant to send: Anyone thought to be challenging the North Korean regime is at risk.
The Hana Foundation posted a notice on its website warning refugees to be careful. There were news reports the same day both that Thae Yong Ho, the high level North Korean ambassador who recently escaped to South Korea, would continue activities and others stating he would suspend his activities.
Our latest speech contest suddenly had a problem because a few of the refugees who have identified themselves publicly said they felt less comfortable speaking. Another refugee who already preferred to remain anonymous seemed to be on the verge of withdrawing from the contest. Only one of the seven contestants allowed himself to be photographed and video recorded.
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We made some changes to the contest, such as making it off-the-record, there would be no video, audio or photographs, and guests were forbidden to ask the refugees for their contact information (some knuckleheads asked refugees for their contact information anyway). The contest could have been destroyed by contestants dropping out, but as one of the refugees told me later, we had provided a safe zone for them to speak. How safe was it? Some of the people who travel to North Korea often join the contest, sitting at the back of the room and refusing to join the group photo at the end. We aren't always sure of their intentions.
Was the concern of refugees justified? There have been some assassinations of refugees and others have been targeted, but they are engaged in activities headed in North Korea's direction. They are the ones sending air balloons, USB drives, or have inside information about the regime. I have been saying that for years, but I felt less confident making that point when refugees expressed their concern so directly.
It was another beautiful speech contest. As I said in my introductory remarks, it was a speech celebration, the opportunity for seven brave people to talk about the moment that had triggered their escape from North Korea to freedom in the outside world. North Korea being North Korea had almost interrupted the event, but their new norm, from that moment they chose to escape from North Korea despite the risks, was about overcoming. That's how they had the courage to get on stage in front of 130 people to give thoughtful speeches in English. They later sent us beautiful messages discussing how much they loved giving speeches last Saturday. None of them mentioned the assassination.
Casey Lartigue Jr. is the co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR) in Seoul. He can be reached at CJL@post.harvard.edu. He participated in the latest Korea Times Roundtable on North Korea and contributed this column, a precursor to the one-page coverage Tuesday.
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