Voices from North Korea: Refugees Tell Their Stories

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New Books in Political Science 39 min 5 chapters transcribed 8 days ago

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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Christoph Bluth 0:01

Welcome to the New Books Network. Hello, everybody. My name is Christoph Bluth. I'm at the University of Bradford, professor of international relations and security. And we have some very wonderful guests with us today from the Freedom Speakers International. So I welcome Casey LaTeague and Yuna Jun. I'm glad that you're here. And so we want to learn something about the work that you're doing and the interest that you have and the origins of this interesting organization. So Casey, perhaps if you could start off with this.

Casey Lartig 0:36

Okay, sure. I'm Casey Lartig. I'm co-founder of Freedom Speakers International in Seoul, Korea. My co-founder is a South Korean named Eun-Goo Lee. I am an American living and working in South Korea. We started this back in March of 2013. At that time, it was a purely volunteer activity where we were connecting North Korean refugees with volunteer English teachers. And we started it because we had identified that there were some North Koreans who had been teachers in North Korea, but they were not qualified to become teachers in South Korea because their English levels were too low. So we started connecting them with volunteer tutors. And then it's kind of like what people in America would say. It's like get into the mafia is easy to get in than it is to get out.

Casey Lartig 1:23

So once we got in, it was hard to get out because we had so many North Korean refugees coming to us. And then we finally decided maybe we should, like, make this an official organization. So we did that in 2016. And in our history, we've had about 600 North Korean refugees study English, public speaking, and career development. We published five books, including four by North Korean refugees. We have an English speech contest twice a year, and we've now had 21 of them. And our 22nd will be October 1st at Harvard University. That'll be a big thing. And actually, one of our winners was Yuna. She was the winner of our 11th speech contest back in 2020.

Christoph Bluth 2:03

So Yuna, could you tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to be in South Korea and to work with this organization?

Yuna 2:11

Sure. Hi, my name is Yuna. Nice to meet you all. And as you know, I was born in North Korea and I defected to South Korea when I was 20, second year of university. And I joined FSI, it was like 2018.

What is Freedom Speakers International and how did it start?

Yuna 2:29

So we have made great journey together. And now I'm living in South Korea and I became a TV figure and also a public speaker and do a lot of things. So I will tell you more about my defection story later.

Christoph Bluth 2:51

Okay, well, maybe we should explore the background just a little bit. I mean, there are two issues, obviously. One is, what is the story generally about North Korean refugees? How do they get out? Why do they need to get out of North Korea? And the other question is, obviously, what kind of situation do they face when they actually come to South Korea, where they're supposed to be accepted as citizens of Korea because South Korea doesn't recognize the existence of North Korea technically. Okay.

Yuna 3:21

Hey,

Casey Lartig 3:22

let Yuna start.

Yuna 3:24

I was born in a very royal family. My father was military general, so military officer. And my mother also, she had a good background. So my origin background was good. So I just selected by regime, and then I went to a special high school. So I received education of English. And then as soon as I graduated high school, I moved to very northern of North Korea. called Haryong City, located very north. So it's near to China, so there's like a border between north and China. There's like a river, two rivers actually, but one river was Tumor River. So the university located Haryong City, which was really close to China. So that time, a lot of North Korean people, after Kim Il-sung died, the food shortage happened really seriously.

Yuna 4:17

So that time, a lot of people actually break the law illegally. They do some kind of like, I forgot the word, smuggled. Yeah, smuggled a lot of stuff from China to North Korea.

Unknown 4:35

You're not really sorry to stop you there. Could I ask you to just go back to

Yuna 4:39

that

Unknown 4:39

sentence before the other thing? Go ahead.

Yuna 4:43

So at that time, because of the food shortage, North Korean people just break the law and just crossing river illegally and smuggle the stuff, including South Korean dramas.

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Chapters

5 chapters

1 What is the main topic discussed in this episode? 0:01–2:29 2 What is Freedom Speakers International and how did it start? 2:29–9:18 3 Who is Yuna Jun and what motivated her to join FSI? 9:18–16:14 4 How did Yuna escape from North Korea and what risks did she face? 16:14–38:28 5 What is the Hanawon process and how does it help North Korean refugees adjust to South Korea? 38:28–39:20

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Topics in this episode

Kim Jong-un 2 Harvard University 1 Kim Il-sung 1 Yuna 2 Incheon International Airport 1 One Young World 1 University of Bradford 2 Casey Lartig 1 NIS 1 Freedom Speakers International 2 Christoph Bluth 1 Yongnam Ohm 1

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Recorded08 Sep 2026

Publisherfeeds.megaphone.fm

Transcriptspeaker-named · 100+ languages

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Show notes

n this podcast, North Korean refugees who visited the University of Bradford share their harrowing experiences of life in North Korea, escape, and the challenges of building new lives in freedom. They are supported by Freedom Speakers International (FSI), a Seoul-based non-profit that helps North Korean refugees rebuild their lives through personalised English education, mentoring and public-speaking opportunities. Crucially, FSI enables refugees to tell their own stories in their own voices. Their testimony reveals the human cost of repression in North Korea while highlighting the importance of the humanitarian work undertaken by FSI: helping refugees develop the skills and confidence to pursue their ambitions, rebuild their independence and ensure that their experiences are heard internationally. Freedom Speakers International (FSI) is a Seoul-based non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting North Korean refugees as they rebuild their lives after escape from North Korea. Founded in 2013 by Casey Lartigue Jr. and Eunkoo Lee, it began as Teach North Korean Refugees and has developed into an organisation focused on empowering refugees through education, mentoring and public speaking opportunities. FSI provides North Korean refugees with tuition-free, individualised English and public-speaking mentorship. This is particularly important because many refugees arrive in South Korea having experienced severe disruption to their education and face significant disadvantages in employment and higher education, where English proficiency can be important. FSI works with refugees according to their own objectives, helping them improve their language skills, confidence and ability to participate fully in South Korean and international society. An especially important part of FSI's work is enabling North Korean refugees who wish to do so to tell their own stories. Through its public-speaking programme, its “I Am From North Korea” English Speech Contest and its Keynote Speaker Network, FSI gives refugees opportunities to communicate their experiences directly to international audiences rather than having others speak on their behalf. Its speaker network now includes more than 30 speakers. The humanitarian importance of this work extends well beyond language teaching. North Korean refugees have often endured repression, traumatic journeys of escape, separation from their families and the considerable difficulties of adapting to an unfamiliar society. Effective resettlement therefore requires more than providing physical safety. It also means helping people recover independence, confidence and the ability to determine their own futures. FSI's personalised model is particularly valuable because it treats refugees not simply as recipients of assistance but as individuals with their own ambitions, experiences and voices. Its work helps turn escape from persecution into the possibility of a genuinely independent life. At the same time, by enabling refugees to speak about North Korea from personal experience, FSI performs a wider human-rights function. First-hand testimony preserves awareness of conditions inside North Korea and ensures that the experiences of those who have escaped remain part of international discussion. Supporting North Korean refugees in finding their own voices is therefore both an important humanitarian activity and a contribution to the broader defence of human dignity and freedom. Christoph Bluth is Professor of International Relations and Security at the University of Bradford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

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