Dicon Korea Quotes

Real stories like this, human ones, could get you sent to prison, and it didn't matter what they were about. It didn't matter if the story was about an old woman or a squid attack - if it diverted emotion from the Dear Leader, it was dangerous. ~ Adam Johnson

Kids flew B-17s in daylight bombing raids over Germany in World War II. Kids fought in Korea and Vietnam. ~ Dan Jenkins

A North Korean soldier would later recall a buddy who had been given an American-made nail clipper and was showing it off to his friends. The soldier clipped a few nails, admired the sharp, clean edges, and marveled at the mechanics of this simple item. Then he realized with a sinking heart: If North Korea couldn't make such a fine nail clipper, how could it compete with American weapons? ~ Barbara Demick

On the other hand, there are a number of cases where economic growth did not produce better governance, but where, to the contrary, it was good governance that was responsible for growth. Consider South Korea and Nigeria. In 1954, following the Korean War, South Korea's per capita GDP was lower than that of Nigeria, which was to win its independence from Britain in 1960. Over the following fifty years, Nigeria took in more than $300 billion in oil revenues, and yet its per capita income declined in the years between 1975 and 1995. In contrast, South Korea grew at rates ranging from 7 to 9 percent per year over this same period, to the point that it became the world's twelfth-largest economy by the time of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. The reason for this difference in performance is almost entirely attributable to the far superior government that presided over South Korea compared to Nigeria. ~ Francis Fukuyama

If the six-nation forums dealing with Iran and North Korea suffer comparable failures, the consequence will be a world of unchecked proliferation, not controlled by either governing principles or functioning institutions. A modern, strong, peaceful Iran could become a pillar of stability and progress in the region. This cannot happen unless Iran's leaders decide whether they are representing a cause or a nation - whether their basic motivation is crusading or international cooperation. The goal of the diplomacy of the Six should be to oblige Iran to confront this choice. ~ Henry A. Kissinger

It seems Korean women are enjoying a passive and fragile status, intoxicated by appearance. Not only feminism, but any serious discourse ends up being swept away by popular culture in Korea. ~ Kim Hyesoon

In Korea, I do different kinds of genres. So, like that, I would like to do a lot of good acting films. ~ Lee Byung-hun

Technically, Japan and South Korea normalized their diplomatic ties 50 years ago, but this wasn't included in the Normalization Treaty because forced prostitution, coerced sex just was taboo to even talk about. ~ Elise Hu

I've often found myself looking fondly at the Valentine's cultures in other countries. South Korea, for instance - where women must give chocolate to men. ~ John Niven

I'm clinging to one last thought: pain is the harbinger of hope. You have to be alive to feel pain. If you are alive, then you have purpose. If you have purpose, then you have hope. ~ Tucker Elliot

I met Jason Mraz when he had a concert in Korea as a cover contest winner of his songs! He was super nice to even tune the guitar that I also won from the contest for me and we decided to jam to one of his hit songs, " Lucky". I actually don't remember how I was able to sing because I was so nervous at the time but it would also be a dream come true if i can have the honor to share the stage with Jason Mraz one day! ~ Megan Lee

North Korea remains the last bastion of undiluted communism in the world. ~ Barbara Demick

This was always the case with North Korea. It was like the bad boyfriend whose presence could never be depended on, so you always had to seize the opportunity to spend time with him when he made himself available. ~ Suki Kim

Korea can't become a 'first-class' nation unless regulation and 'a sense of power' disappear. The nation's politics is the fourth-class, bureaucratic are the third-class, and business is the second-class. ~ Lee Kun-hee

A diplomatic passport for a Tal Zahavi, with a current photo of Yael-1. The same birth date as in the other passport. The interior must have had fifty entry stamps for European and South American countries, plus the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. The woman traveled a lot. ~ John Sandford

I have a mental coach in Korea, and I talk to her every week before the tournament, during the tournament and try to talk to her and try to get a little bit of the pressure off. ~ Inbee Park

Create the impression of endless willingness to compromise and you almost invite deadlines. That's the challenge we now have in North Korea and have had in North Korea for 10 years. In this sense, diplomacy and foreign policy and other elements of political activity have to be closely linked and have to be understood by the negotiators ~ Henry A. Kissinger

Ten thousand people were baptized in the Han river in Seoul, Korea. Imagine! 10,000 people giving their lives to Christ at one time! I will never forget it! ----I felt that the constant prayers of the Korean people had made the difference. I think we in the west should take prayer more seriously. ~ Helen Goldie

What else has changes since 1984? Oil's running our, I say Earth's population is eight billion, mass extinction of flora and fauna are commonplace, climate change is foreclosing the Holocene Era. Aparteid's dead, as are the Castros in Cuba as is privacy. The USSR went bankrupt; the Eastern bloc collapsed; Germany reunified; the EU has gone federal; China's a powerhouse- though their air is industrial effluence in a gaseous state - and North Korea is still a gulag run by a coiffed cannibal. p 500 ~ David Mitchell

My mother had fought to hold on to her belief that she lived in a good country. She was shocked and saddened to realize how corrupt and pitiless North Korea had become. Now she was even more convinced that she couldn't let her daughters grow up in such a place. We had to get out as soon as possible. ~ Yeonmi Park

What we do with this peace-whether we preserve it and defend it, or whether we lose it and let it slip away-will be the measure of our worthiness of the spirit and sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands who gave their lives in two World Wars, Korea, and in Vietnam. ~ Richard M. Nixon

Hangeul is perhaps the most scientific system of writing in general use in any country. ~ Edwin O. Reischauer

When the [US] president writes to Kim Jong Il, the son, the Dear Leader, he doesn't call him Dear Mr President, he calls him Dear Mr Secretary. Have you ever noticed that? Why is that? Because he's not the president of North Korea, he's the head of the Communist Party, the North Korean Workers' Party and he's the head of the Army. He's not head of the state. The head of the state is his father, who's been dead for 15 years. ~ Christopher Hitchens

I've always been a fan of Korean cinema but never really pursued it, as I wanted to pave my way here in the States. I figured, once I established myself here, Korea might take notice. And it did. ~ Brian Tee

Everyone has a weakness. Even a demigod. ~ Christina Farley

I want to make Seoul the front line of the new South Korea. Seoul is sleeping, and I want to wake it up. ~ Chung Mong-joon

The husband beats his wife," she responded. "The neighbors don't care, and even if they complained, the man would not change. ~ Felix Abt

The amphibious landing of U.S. Marines on September 1950 at Inchon, on the west coast of Korea, was one of the most audacious and spectacularly successful amphibious landings in all naval history. ~ Bernard Brodie

The trump has been played. Now it is up to the joker to see if he has a place in the pack. ~ Anthony T. Hincks

The state was founded, actually, I think the year that Nineteen Eighty-Four was published. And it's as if they sort of took the book and thought, I wonder if we could make this work? ~ Christopher Hitchens

None of the Asian countries that have moved closer to the developed countries of the West in recent years has benefited from large foreign investments, whether it be Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan and more recently China. In essence, all of these countries themselves financed the necessary investments in physical capital and, even more, in human capital, which the latest research holds to be the key to long-term growth.35 Conversely, countries owned by other countries, whether in the colonial period or in Africa today, have been less successful, most notably because they have tended to specialize in areas without much prospect of future development and because they have been subject to chronic political instability. ~ Thomas Piketty

Nothing is impossible for a man with a strong will. The possible is in store only for a man who loves the future. There is no word "impossible" in the Korean language. ~ Kim Jong Il

North Korea is a necrocracy, or a mauselocracy or a thanatocracy in which the one [Kim Il-sung] is diffused into being with the other [Kim Jong Il], and where both of them are said to have had miraculous births attended by miraculous phenomena such as, for example, birds singing in Korean, when they were born. ~ Christopher Hitchens

Over mochi ice cream, Grandma tells us about all the places she wants to take us in Korea: the Buddhist temples, the outdoor food markets, the skin clinic where she goes to get her moles lasered off. She points at a tiny mole on Kitty's cheek and says, "We'll get that taken care of."
Daddy looks alarmed, and Trina's quick to ask, "Isn't she too young?"
Grandma waves her hand. "She'll be fine."
Then Kitty asks, "How old do you have to be to get a nose job in Korea?" and Daddy nearly chokes on his beer.
Grandma gives her a threatening look. "You can never, ever change your nose. You have a lucky nose."
Kitty touches it gingerly. "I do?"
"Very lucky," Grandma says. "If you change your nose, you'll change your luck. So never do it."
I touch my own nose. Grandma's never said anything about my nose being lucky. ~ Jenny Han