The Korea Times - Columnists, Opinion, page 1

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Opinion

Columnists

Tue, September 17, 2019 | 01:20

'How could she let herself starve to death?'

The starvation death of a North Korean refugee reminded me of a Korea Times column I wrote in 2014, “Fund NK refugees before it's too late.” One key point then: The South Korean government was trying to send $7 million in aid to North Korea, but that the money would be better spent by directly helping North Korean refugees pay off their debts or to send money to relatives still in North Korea.

2019-08-27 17:09

Trump's art of dealing with North Korea

What was once insightful analysis about North Korea has now become conventional wisdom, so much so that even 78-year-old grandmothers in Tennessee who only recently heard of North Korea now declare with conviction that Kim Jong-un will never give up his nukes.

2019-07-03 17:50

Jobs to be done with NK refugees

During my recent trip to the U.S., I participated in the 16th annual North Korea Freedom Week, hosted by Suzanne Scholte's North Korea Freedom Coalition. The theme: “Listen to the North Korean defectors: Then you will know the truth!”

2019-05-29 17:35

'Kim Han-sol escaped with help of anti-North Korea group'

Nathan Glazer's endless thoughts

Attending a special alumni weekend lecture by Harvard University emeritus professor Nathan Glazer about 15 years ago, I began introducing myself as one of his former students. Prof. Glazer interrupted, saying, “Mr. Lartigue. I shall never forget you.”

2019-03-27 17:30

Happy birthday, Mr. Douglass!

As a pre-teen growing up in Missouri City, Texas, I participated in my first leadership seminar: I read all three of Frederick Douglass's autobiographies. Applying lessons learned from the 19th century slave-turned-abolitionist, I convinced my parents to drive me to Douglass's “Cedar Hill” home in Washington, D.C. (a distance of about 1,400 miles).

2019-02-19 17:01

From A-B-C to T-E-D!

In April 2015, Eunhee Park joined Teach North Korean Refugees as a novice at English. At that time, she was embarrassed to use her name and hated to admit that she was from North Korea. She even refused to be in the group photo that we take after matching sessions where refugees choose tutors (refugees have the option to hide their faces, but even that wasn't enough for her at that time).

2019-01-13 08:14

Slow-motion information hack

It was international news that almost 1,000 North Korean refugees in South Korea had their personal information stolen recently by an unknown hacker. As was reported by numerous media outlets, North Korean refugees may be at risk of blackmail or threats to their relatives back home if North Korean agents or their associates were involved.

Park Yoon-bae2019-01-04 22:46

Studying or socializing with refugees?

Volunteers eager to help North Korean refugees run into a brick wall with my nonprofit: No socializing. That takes fun out of volunteering for those who dream of helping North Korean refugees with clubbing, hiking or dating.

2018-12-03 17:33

Making invisible people visible

Mark Twain supposedly said: “I have been complimented many times and they always embarrass me; I always feel that they have not said enough.” Quote-master Twain also supposedly said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.”

2018-10-31 18:20

Dear critics: You may be right

After I began my professional career back in 1998, it didn't take long before I started receiving angry letters from readers. Through my two decades as a writer, speaker, talk show host, commentator, columnist, researcher, analyst and activist, I have been attacked from more angles than enemy troops at MacArthur's landing at Incheon.

2018-10-02 18:52

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