 Casey Laritigue (left) and Yeonmi Park (right) discuss issues facing North Korea on “North Korea Today.” Image: OTV |
An NGO-based internet television channel,
OTV [Open North Korea], has launched a new English language program about North
Korea titled “North Korea Today.” The program is produced and hosted by Casey
Lartigue, the Director for International Cooperation at the Freedom Factory, a
Seoul-based liberal think tank, and co-hosted by Yeonmi Park, a North Korean
defector who escaped the country in 2007.
According to OTV’s production team, one of
the main goals of North Korea Today is to raise awareness of the myriad
societal issues facing North Korea by incorporating a range of perspectives in
its discourse. In an interview with the Daily NK, Mr. Lartigue stated that he
wants this program “to inspire, motivate, and remind people of the importance
of engagement” and “encourage people to take action” for human rights in North
Korea.
Mr. Lartigue hopes to address problems
affecting North Korea including forced repatriation of defectors, suppression
of free speech, and women’s rights. The plight of the kkotjebi, North Korea’s
large population of homeless children of whom many beg for food around the
country’s public markets is another topic slated for discussion.
During the same interview Ms. Park also
expressed her intentions and hopes for the show, “People in North Korea have no
idea what freedom is like. I really want to bring freedom to my people there.”
Yeonmi Park is a popular guest for Channel A’s talk show, “Now on My Way to
Meet You”, a program that features a guest panel of North Korean defectors conversing
about daily and life and society in their former country.
Mr. Lartigue plans to cover tourism in
North Korea during the debut show; This is a multifaceted subject that raises a
number of ethical concerns about an industry that provides the regime with
much-needed foreign currency while overlooking its flagrant human rights
violations.
OTV is a video production organization
committed to fostering rational and informed public opinion on domestic and
international issues affecting the Korean Peninsula.
Watch the first episode here.
