Project 21 ambassador Casey Lartigue, Jr., is an advocate and activist for educational freedom who has gained recognition in both South Korea and the United States. He is now based in South Korea where he is co-founder, chairman and co-president of Freedom Speakers International along with South Korean researcher Lee Eunkoo.
Additionally, Casey is national co-director of Giving Tuesday Korea, a lecturer in public speaking at the Seoul University of Foreign Studies, and a columnist for the Korea Times newspaper.
He received a bachelor’s degree from the Harvard University Extension School and a master’s degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He is a member of the HGSE Alumni Council. He has been a Goodwill Ambassador with the Harvard Graduate School of Education since 2015 ,and since 2023 he has been an Alumni Admissions Ambassador with HGSE. He was featured in Harvard’s Ed. Magazine.
Casey has been presented with numerous awards and honors, including: International Human Rights Award, All India Council on Human Rights, Liberties and Social Justice (2025); Han Won-Chae Human Rights Award (2025); Outstanding Foreigner Award, IWIK and Challenge Korea (2025); The Michael Shinagel Award for Service to Others, Harvard Extension School (2024); A Letter of Commendation from the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Unification (2023); Named to the 2023 Challenge World 100 List (2023); Seoul Honorary Citizenship in 2022 (Seoul City Hall) (2022); Letter of Commendation, presented by the Korea Hana Foundation (2021); The 2019 Challenge Korea Challenge Maker Award (2019); the 2018 Challenge Korea (Global) Award; and the 2017 Special Contribution Award presented by the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation.
Casey is the co-author and co-editor of three books, including Greenlight to Freedom: A North Korean Daughter’s Search for Her Mother and Herself with Songmi Han and Escape from North Korea, New Beginnings in South Korea: 20 North Korean Refugees Reflect on the Hanawon Resettlement Center with Eunkoo Lee.