By Casey Lartigue Jr.
Tae Yong-ho made international news in 2016 with his dramatic escape to South Korea. Then North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, he has been described as one of the highest-ranking North Korean officials to escape from the regime.
Born into North Korea's elite, he was educated by private tutors, attended North Korea's top education institutions and studied abroad, and was accepted into North Korea's foreign ministry.
In contrast, there were no international headlines when Han Song-mi escaped from North Korea in 2011 as a teenager, with North Korean border guards in hot pursuit. Few people would have ever heard of her if North Korea's border guards had gunned her down. She often starved in North Korea, her life was usually unstable and she attended elementary school for only one year.
They both made it to South Korea and their separate paths crossed mine in recent years. I first met Tae in 2017 at an off-the-record Korea Times Roundtable Discussion. We have been speakers together at several forums and conferences and have had several meetings over the years.
Song-mi first contacted me in 2019 when she was looking to make a change in her life by improving her English. Life had been happening to her, but she was ready to start making life happen. We always try to have a North Korean refugee on staff. Song-mi reached out to me at a time when I was considering hiring a part-time special assistant.
Last week, the paths of Tae Yong-ho and Han Song-mi crossed when Freedom Speakers International (FSI) co-founder Lee Eun-koo and I introduced them. Now Rep. Tae is the first former North Korean to be directly elected to South Korea's National Assembly. The meeting at his office was Song-mi's first-ever visit to the National Assembly. She didn't know she was allowed to visit the National Assembly. She arrived more than an hour early, taking photos and drinking coffee as she waited for us to arrive.
When Tae heard we had arrived early, he came outside of his office to welcome us. After some small talk, the big moment came when Song-mi introduced herself.
It is difficult to explain how lovely the meeting was. Tae is a highly educated man who talks about the histories and cultures of countries the way many people talk about sports teams. He probably knows the history of your own country better than you do. Song-mi was smiling during the entire meeting but later told me that she was initially shaking with delight and nervousness. She had heard about Tae, had seen him in the news often and couldn't believe she was in the same room with him. Tae was gentle and kind, complimenting Song-mi and praising me (an American) and my co-founder (South Korean) for empowering a young North Korean refugee woman who had been voiceless for so long.
When they were in North Korea, Tae had to be opinionless and Song-mi was voiceless. He spoke on behalf of the North Korean government but couldn't express his real thoughts even to his own children. Song-mi was engaged in manual labor instead of going to school as a child. Tae has been a lifelong voracious reader; Song-mi went a decade without even seeing a book.
They are now both published authors, although there are still some contrasts. Rep. Tae has given briefings to government officials around the world about North Korea's inner workings and had his choice of South Korean publishing companies. Two years after he arrived in South Korea, he was the author of a best-selling book. After our meeting, he was scheduled to fly to Ukraine.
Song-mi was silent her first decade in South Korea, rarely discussing her difficult life in North Korea. Working with volunteers, we self-published her book, "Greenlight to Freedom," through Amazon.
After we told Rep. Tae about Song-mi and shared a draft of the manuscript, he agreed to write the foreword to the book. He wrote that he had learned more about North Korea in freedom than when he lived there and represented it abroad. The former North Korean diplomat wrote that Song-mi's story is an "eye-opener not only for people like me but also for those who know little about North Korea." After the meeting, Song-mi went back home to work at her freelance catering business serving North Korean food.
It would have been unthinkable for them to have met in North Korea. The former diplomat who had lived abroad as a member of North Korea's elite was meeting one of the despised who had barely survived in North Korea's countryside. Tae made it clear that it would not be their last meeting, as he surprised us all with a suggestion about how we could continue the dialogue.
Casey Lartigue Jr. is co-author along with Song-mi Han of the book, "Greenlight to Freedom," and co-founder along with Eun-koo Lee of Freedom Speakers International (FSI).
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Born into North Korea's elite, he was educated by private tutors, attended North Korea's top education institutions and studied abroad, and was accepted into North Korea's foreign ministry.
In contrast, there were no international headlines when Han Song-mi escaped from North Korea in 2011 as a teenager, with North Korean border guards in hot pursuit. Few people would have ever heard of her if North Korea's border guards had gunned her down. She often starved in North Korea, her life was usually unstable and she attended elementary school for only one year.
They both made it to South Korea and their separate paths crossed mine in recent years. I first met Tae in 2017 at an off-the-record Korea Times Roundtable Discussion. We have been speakers together at several forums and conferences and have had several meetings over the years.
Song-mi first contacted me in 2019 when she was looking to make a change in her life by improving her English. Life had been happening to her, but she was ready to start making life happen. We always try to have a North Korean refugee on staff. Song-mi reached out to me at a time when I was considering hiring a part-time special assistant.
Last week, the paths of Tae Yong-ho and Han Song-mi crossed when Freedom Speakers International (FSI) co-founder Lee Eun-koo and I introduced them. Now Rep. Tae is the first former North Korean to be directly elected to South Korea's National Assembly. The meeting at his office was Song-mi's first-ever visit to the National Assembly. She didn't know she was allowed to visit the National Assembly. She arrived more than an hour early, taking photos and drinking coffee as she waited for us to arrive.
When Tae heard we had arrived early, he came outside of his office to welcome us. After some small talk, the big moment came when Song-mi introduced herself.
It is difficult to explain how lovely the meeting was. Tae is a highly educated man who talks about the histories and cultures of countries the way many people talk about sports teams. He probably knows the history of your own country better than you do. Song-mi was smiling during the entire meeting but later told me that she was initially shaking with delight and nervousness. She had heard about Tae, had seen him in the news often and couldn't believe she was in the same room with him. Tae was gentle and kind, complimenting Song-mi and praising me (an American) and my co-founder (South Korean) for empowering a young North Korean refugee woman who had been voiceless for so long.
When they were in North Korea, Tae had to be opinionless and Song-mi was voiceless. He spoke on behalf of the North Korean government but couldn't express his real thoughts even to his own children. Song-mi was engaged in manual labor instead of going to school as a child. Tae has been a lifelong voracious reader; Song-mi went a decade without even seeing a book.
They are now both published authors, although there are still some contrasts. Rep. Tae has given briefings to government officials around the world about North Korea's inner workings and had his choice of South Korean publishing companies. Two years after he arrived in South Korea, he was the author of a best-selling book. After our meeting, he was scheduled to fly to Ukraine.
Song-mi was silent her first decade in South Korea, rarely discussing her difficult life in North Korea. Working with volunteers, we self-published her book, "Greenlight to Freedom," through Amazon.
After we told Rep. Tae about Song-mi and shared a draft of the manuscript, he agreed to write the foreword to the book. He wrote that he had learned more about North Korea in freedom than when he lived there and represented it abroad. The former North Korean diplomat wrote that Song-mi's story is an "eye-opener not only for people like me but also for those who know little about North Korea." After the meeting, Song-mi went back home to work at her freelance catering business serving North Korean food.
It would have been unthinkable for them to have met in North Korea. The former diplomat who had lived abroad as a member of North Korea's elite was meeting one of the despised who had barely survived in North Korea's countryside. Tae made it clear that it would not be their last meeting, as he surprised us all with a suggestion about how we could continue the dialogue.
Casey Lartigue Jr. is co-author along with Song-mi Han of the book, "Greenlight to Freedom," and co-founder along with Eun-koo Lee of Freedom Speakers International (FSI).
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