Thank you volunteers and FSI

Jeong Cheol (James) Lee was the winner of the 14th Freedom Speakers International English Speech Contest on September 11, 2021. Here is a short statement he made on Facebook the following day.

"I got the Grand Prize in the 14th FSI (Freedom Speakers International ) English Speech Contest. It took place on September 11th.

"I’ve participated in this speech contest several times since I got to know about FSI (before TNKR) to study English in 2015.

"It was the fourth time for me to participate in the speech contest. I started from the participation prize, which made me realize speech is not easy(haha). However, I didn’t stop because the prize was not the main purpose. I took the contest as a course of learning English as well as talking about the lives of North Koreans, which led me to the first place eventually.

"I am not writing this for self-praise(haha) but I really want to thank all tutors who taught me English at FSI. FSI gave me the opportunity to meet tutors from the U.S., Canada, France, and other countries. Among them, there were students who were younger than me, teachers, office workers, etc. They made time for volunteer work to teach me English although were all busy with study and work in South Korea. Because of them, I can deliver my though and give a speech in English.

"Also, I want to thank the co-founders of FSI, Eunkoo Lee and Casey Lartigue Jr.

"I think the prize money is quite a lot. I'm not well-to-do economically but I want to donate half of the prize money to Freedom Speakers International because they have helped a lot of North Koreans in South Korea who want to learn English."

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Here's the text of JeongCheol's speech https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2021/09/715_315675.html

Eleven North Korean refugees have set up fundraisers supporting FSI. It is incredible because many of them had no concept of civil society before joining our organization. After studying with volunteers, many of them say they hope to volunteer one day.

Some of them even take that next step--fundraising for FSI!

Who are they? They include published authors, public speakers, human rights activists, YouTubers, and even a former doctor from North Korea.