This is an excellent record of real life in North Korea. It makes a great companion read to The Impossible State as it really brings to life the points made in a more historical book.
"North Korea invites parody. We laugh at the excesses of the propaganda and the gullibility of the people. But consider that their indoctrination began in infancy, during the fourteen-hour days spent in factory day-care centers; that for the subsequent fifty years, every song, film, newspaper article, and billboard was designed to deify Kim Il-sung; that the country was hermetically sealed to keep out anything that may cast doubt on Kim Il-sung's divinity. Who could possibly resist?" Page 45
Vinalon - fabric unique to North Korea
"If you wanted to make a major purchase - say, to buy a watch or a record player - you had to apply to your work unit for permission. It wasn't just a matter of having the money." Page 63
"The North Korean regime understood you couldn't keep Koreans happy without kimchi." Page 63
"Enduring hunger became part of one's patriotic duty. Billboards went up in Pyongyang touting the new slogan, 'Let's Eat Two Meals a Day.'" Page 70
"In order to fit in, the average citizen had to discipline himself not to think too much. Then there was the natural human survival instinct to be optimistic. . . North Koreans deceived themselves. They thought it was temporary. Things would get better. A hungry stomach shouldn't believe a lie, but somehow it did." Page 70
"Dr. Kim hadn't been a doctor long enough to have erected the protective wall that would insulate her from the suffering around her. The children's pain was her pain. Years later, when I asked her if she remembered any of the children who had died on her watch, she answered sharply, 'I remember all of them.'" Page 114
"When North Korea runs short of food, the regime feeds its population with more propaganda." Page 290
Book 22
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