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North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society QUOTES

North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society QUOTES

1 " People say mountains change in about ten years. If something as stubborn and mammoth as a mountain can change in a decade, the hearts of ordinary North Koreans can change. I'm sure of it. I'm living proof." --Ha Young, a North Korean defector "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

2 " People say mountains change in about ten years. If something as stubborn and mammoth as a mountain can change in a decade, the hearts of ordinary North Koreans can change. I'm sure of it. I'm living proof." --Ha Young, a North Korean defector interviewed in Jieun Baek's book "North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground is Transforming a Closed Society "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

3 " Outside information is key. It’s not an immediate magic bullet, but it’s a crucial step because it sparks the process of distrusting the government and that distrust becomes resentment, which can evolve into practical action and changes in one’s behavior. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

4 " Some Christian missionaries who sent in the audio Bibles learned that, to no one’s surprise, there was a much higher demand for Japanese porn movies than for Bibles, which, to people unfamiliar with religious text, may seem to be merely a series of stories with no context or grounding. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

5 " Some Christian organizations in North Korea are allowed in as long as they do not proselytize and as long as they follow all of the regime’s rules. There are organizations and individuals who work inside North Korea in development, food aid, and education who strictly abide by all of the government’s policies of not proselytizing while trying to exemplify Christian values of generosity, love, charity, and honesty "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

6 " Buddhist organization called Good Friends, led by the Venerable Pomnyun, a Buddhist monk from South Korea, that works inside North Korea to provide humanitarian aid and has been doing so for over twenty years. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

7 " An estimated two hundred to two thousand calls are made between North and South Korea every day, despite such communication being illegal in both countries. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

8 " The government says North Korea is socialist, but that’s not true. North Korea is capitalistic. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

9 " Spending two hours in the Kumsusan Mausoleum made me realize how deeply embedded this cult of personality has become in North Korean society. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

10 " This shocked me, and got me to question the basics of my education in North Korea. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

11 " about 25 percent are diehard believers in North Korea; about 25 percent are intellectuals and people who have traveled abroad who basically know how the world works but continue to remain loyal; another 25 percent or so of people don’t care about anything beyond their own households and are able to generally get by; and about 25 percent of people quietly criticize the North Korean government and have grievances against the state. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

12 " Before seeing China and learning what the rest of the world was like, he had always assumed that he or his fellow citizens deserved whatever punishments they received. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

13 " We couldn’t live in North Korea due to hunger but we cannot live in South Korea because we do not understand the society. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

14 " Word of mouth was and still is the most trusted and widely used source of information for North Koreans, regardless of whether the information is correct, safe, or sound. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

15 " Since North Korea’s leaders are considered gods, they are assumed to live forever after their mortal deaths. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

16 " Ten Principles for the Establishment of a One-Ideology System were officially announced by Kim Jong-Il in 1974 for all North Korean citizens to memorize and live by. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

17 " Anyone who heard what the Chinese wanted would go to heaven, hell, and then back to find those goods to earn cash. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

18 " if the system collapses, they go down, too, so they remain and support the regime. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

19 " The free market system will work best. If these USBs are just given away inside North Korea, it won’t work. People will be suspicious and wonder why they’re being given out for free. North Korea is an extremely free market system. "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

20 " were. Joon-Hee’s question pointed to the common trait of young students—lack of interest in their government, illiberal or "

― Jieun Baek , North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society