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Barbara Demick Quotes

Powerful Barbara Demick for Daily Growth

About Barbara Demick

Barbara Demick is an acclaimed American journalist and author, best known for her in-depth reporting on North Korea and its enigmatic leader Kim Jong-il. Born on June 16, 1965, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Demick developed a passion for storytelling at an early age, inspired by her love of books and her father's career as a college professor and author. Demick attended the University of Chicago, where she majored in English Literature. After graduating, she joined the Los Angeles Times in 1989, initially working as a reporter for the Metro desk before moving on to cover the crime beat and eventually becoming a foreign correspondent. Her career took her to some of the world's most conflict-ridden regions, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and South Korea. In 2002, Demick was assigned to Seoul as the Times' bureau chief for North Korea. It was during this time that she wrote a series of groundbreaking articles about the secretive nation, which eventually culminated in her award-winning book, "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" (2009). The book tells the story of six ordinary citizens living under the totalitarian regime and provides a rare glimpse into the daily lives of North Koreans. Demick's work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2015 for her coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. She is currently the Seoul bureau chief for the Washington Post and continues to write about North Korea, its people, and its ongoing struggle for freedom and human rights. Through her powerful storytelling, Demick offers a unique perspective on one of the world's most mysterious countries, shedding light on the struggles and resilience of its people in the face of oppressive leadership. Her work serves as a testament to the power of journalism in bringing truth to light and humanizing complex political issues.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"In a world that was falling apart, they found reasons to live." - Barbara Demick

This quote underscores human resilience in the face of adversity. Despite the apparent chaos or disintegration of society (the world falling apart), individuals discovered motivations to keep living. It emphasizes that even during challenging times, people can find reasons to maintain hope, persevere, and continue their lives.

"Living in North Korea meant not just living with fear but with the constant reminder of what might be done to you if you didn't show fear." - Barbara Demick

This quote highlights that life within North Korea is characterized by an overwhelming sense of fear, where citizens not only live in apprehension, but also under the constant awareness of potential consequences for any perceived lack of fear or dissent. The fear serves as a controlling mechanism to maintain conformity and submission to the regime's authority.

"For all its secrecy and isolation, North Korea could not escape the impact of globalization." - Barbara Demick

This quote suggests that despite North Korea's attempt to isolate itself from the rest of the world through secrecy and seclusion, it cannot entirely avoid the effects of globalization. Globalization refers to the interconnectedness of the world through economic, political, cultural, and social interactions. In essence, this statement implies that even in a country as closed-off as North Korea, external influences, ideas, and trends are still able to permeate its borders due to the inherent interdependence of global systems.

"Their lives were defined by scarcity: of food, medicine, electricity, heat." - Barbara Demick

This quote by Barbara Demick emphasizes that the individuals she is referring to live in conditions where essential resources like food, medicine, electricity, and heat are severely lacking or absent. The phrase "defined by scarcity" suggests these people's daily experiences and survival needs are dominated by this lack, shaping their lives significantly. It is a poignant reminder of the hardships faced by many people globally and the need for equitable access to resources for all.

"They had a common language, and that was survival." - Barbara Demick

This quote emphasizes the shared experience and bond among individuals who are facing adversity or struggle, as they all have the same primary need – survival. It suggests unity through a universal human condition, despite differences in backgrounds, cultures, or personal circumstances. In such challenging times, communication, understanding, and empathy can be facilitated more easily due to this shared experience, fostering resilience and mutual aid.

Gonpo Tso was born a princess. As a young woman, she dressed in fur-trimmed robes with fat ropes of coral beads strung around her neck. She lived in an adobe castle on the edge of the Tibetan plateau with a reception room large enough to accommodate the thousand Buddhist monks who once paid tribute to her father.

- Barbara Demick

Woman, Young, Castle, Monks

We see North Koreans as automatons, goose-steeping at parades, doing mass gymnastics with fixed smiles on their faces - but beneath all that, real life goes on with the same complexity of human emotion as anywhere else.

- Barbara Demick

Doing, Smiles, Complexity, Gymnastics

North Korea is probably the only country in the world deliberately kept out of the Internet.

- Barbara Demick

World, Country, Korea, Only Country

If you look at satellite photographs of the Far East by night, you'll see a large splotch curiously lacking in light. This area of darkness is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

- Barbara Demick

Area, Far East, Large, Lacking

In 1949, Mao Tse-tung's Communists established the People's Republic of China, and the following year, his People's Liberation Army invaded central Tibet.

- Barbara Demick

Year, Republic, Established, Liberation

The scene that has raised the most objections in 'The Interview' is at the very end, when Kim's head dissolves into flames. To me, it feels gratuitous.

- Barbara Demick

Very, Feels, Gratuitous, Flames

In 2012, a five-year-old girl in Shandong province described to me how ten officials had chased her six-months-pregnant mother through the fields to prevent the birth of the family's second child, a boy. She died during the procedure.

- Barbara Demick

Through, Had, Died, Five-Year-Old

North Korea, under its thirtysomething Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, is no country for old men. The latest casualty in Kim's ongoing purge of the senior military command was the defense minister, Hyon Yong-chol, who reportedly committed the classic old man's offense of falling asleep in a meeting.

- Barbara Demick

Leader, Country, Offense, Purge

Televisions and radios are locked on government frequencies - it is a serious crime to listen to a foreign broadcast. As a result, North Koreans think that they live in the best country in the world and that, as difficult as their lives may be, everybody else has it much worse.

- Barbara Demick

Country, Broadcast, North, Locked

For a North Korean watcher, seeing 'The Interview' is like seeing an earnest endeavor reflected back through a freak-show mirror.

- Barbara Demick

Mirror, Through, Like, Interview

One of the ways the North Korea regime has kept power is by keeping its people ignorant of the living standards in the outside world. That's the underlying lie that supports the regime - not that their country is 'normal' but that they are better off.

- Barbara Demick

Lie, Country, North, Supports

A South Korean teenager, 18-year-old male, is about five inches taller than his North Korean counterpart. And there are many soldiers who are only about 4'6". The height requirement is supposed to be 4'9". That's the size of my 12-year-old son.

- Barbara Demick

About, South, North, Counterpart

It's frightening to think about more sanctions. When I've met North Koreans in China, they've said to me, 'You have no idea how difficult our lives are. We live like dogs.' They wake up in the morning wondering what they're going to eat for dinner.

- Barbara Demick

Idea, About, North, Wondering

The East Turkestan Islamic Movement, named for an old Uighur name for Xinjiang, is a shadowy group that operates largely out of Afghanistan and Pakistan and is devoted to expelling the Chinese Communist Party from northwestern China.

- Barbara Demick

Communist, Named, Islamic, Northwestern

In 1991, few North Koreans had ever used a telephone. You had to go to a post office to make a phone call.

- Barbara Demick

Go, Had, North, Post Office

I agree with Kathi Zellweger that sanctions mostly punish the ordinary people who live at the edge of starvation.

- Barbara Demick

Mostly, Ordinary People, Sanctions

Good reporting should have the same standard as in a courtroom - beyond a reasonable doubt.

- Barbara Demick

Same, Courtroom, Standard, Reporting

By 2022, China is expected to cede the dubious distinction of being the world's most populous nation to India, according to the population division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

- Barbara Demick

Nation, United, Distinction, Affairs

People have crossed the Himalayas in flip-flops seeking a blessing from the Dalai Lama.

- Barbara Demick

Dalai Lama, Dalai, Lama, Crossed

Since 2009, 140 Tibetans have immolated themselves to protest Chinese policies that limit their freedom of movement, speech and religion, especially their right to venerate the Dalai Lama.

- Barbara Demick

Right, Policies, Dalai Lama, Dalai

Walking down the street with a portrait of the Dalai Lama will get one immediately arrested in most parts of China. Tiny medallions are routinely confiscated and destroyed.

- Barbara Demick

Will, Arrested, Dalai Lama, Dalai

In 1995, the Chinese government picked a 6-year-old child to succeed the Panchen Lama, the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism.

- Barbara Demick

Figure, Buddhism, Second, Lama

As a reader, I've always been interested in dystopian novels like 'Nineteen Eighty-four'.

- Barbara Demick

Always, Like, Been, Novels

When North Koreans cross the border into China, they are stunned to learn that the Chinese can afford to eat rice daily, sometimes for three meals daily.

- Barbara Demick

Learn, Border, North, Koreans

In 1984, George Orwell wrote of a world where the only colour to be found was in the propaganda posters. Such is the case in North Korea. Images of Kim Il-sung are depicted in vivid colours. Rays of yellow and orange emanate from his face: he is the sun.

- Barbara Demick

Yellow, Emanate, North, None

North Korea faded to black in the early 1990s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had propped up its old Communist ally with cheap fuel oil, North Korea's creakily inefficient economy collapsed. Power stations rusted into ruin.

- Barbara Demick

Communist, Soviet Union, 1990s

In the 1990s, the United States offered to help North Korea with its energy needs if it gave up its nuclear weapons programme.

- Barbara Demick

United, Needs, United States, 1990s

Kim Jong Un came in as a fresh face, so I think there's a great disappointment that he's playing the same game as his father.

- Barbara Demick

Game, Think, I Think, Fresh

The cadence of life is slower in North Korea.

- Barbara Demick

Korea, North, North Korea, Slower

The North Korean landscape is strikingly beautiful in places. It could be said to resemble America's Pacific Northwest - but substantially drained of color.

- Barbara Demick

Color, Could, North, Korean

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