“Dr. Kim couldn't remember the last time she'd seen a bowl of pure white rice. What was a bowl of rice doing there, just sitting out on the ground? She figured it out just before she heard the dog's...”

“North Korean defectors often find it hard to settle down. It is not easy for somebody whos escaped a totalitarian country to live in the free world. Defectors have to rediscover who they are in a w...”

“Tech-savvy types had figured out how to get around the system. With radios it was easyopen up the set, cut the conveyor belt attached to the dial, and replace it with a rubber band that could turn ...”

“Her younger son, twenty, was assigned to a factory that made railroad equipment, but since it provided no salary he was actually paying his workplace three dollars per month so he could stay home t...”

“Up until that moment, a part of her had hoped that China would be just as poor as North Korea. She still wanted to believe that her country was the best place in the world. The beliefs she had cher...”

“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 e...”

“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”

“Of course, peace treaties are very attractive to those who sign them. They strengthen one's prestige with the electorate. But the time will come when the names of these public figures will be erase...”

“How would I explain to him that I couldnt make peace with him? How would I explain that if I did I would immediately lose my inner balance? How would I explain that one of the arms of my internal s...”

“In fact, they live in a state of constant paradox where truth is anything but constant”