The popularity of figure skating has increased tremendously, and Koreans have a huge interest in figure skaters – not only me, other international skaters as well.
Like the French, Koreans aim for a subtle and effortless look – while actually paying a lot of attention to the details.
I have had a great deal of interaction with Koreans and feel a fairly strong bond with Korea.
People tend to overlook the fact that North Korea’s economy collapsed at about the same time as South Koreans lost faith in their own state. The late 1980s and early 1990s were a time when South Koreans were questioning the very legitimacy of their republic.
The North Koreans or Chinese may have a million men in uniform but it’s about how you perform.
Like every country, North Korea has some very smart people. They could be contributing a lot more to science and other areas, but North Koreans are forced to spend so much time memorising the fake history of our dictators and other propaganda, so are at a huge disadvantage.
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.
I am one of the lucky North Koreans who made it out of China. North Korean defectors in the country are terrified of trying to leave because they are often caught at the borders as they attempt to cross into Mongolia or Laos.
For a long time, just skating in the Olympics had been my goal because not many Koreans had done it.
When I tell people I’m from South Korea, almost 10 out of 10 say something like, ‘Koreans have great skin!’ And it’s true.
The proud road travelled by Chongryon bears the imprints of the wise guidance and painstaking efforts of the great leaders, who strengthened and developed Chongryon into a Juche-based overseas compatriots’ body that represents the rights and interests of all the Koreans resident in Japan.
In North Koreans, the moment we are born, we don’t know there’s another life existing outside of our country. The regime always told us all the bad things about the outside world, describing America as full of thieves, all human scum, beggars, everyday people dying on the streets and hospitals.
The proud road travelled by Chongryon bears the imprints of the wise guidance and painstaking efforts of the great leaders, who strengthened and developed Chongryon into a Juche-based overseas compatriots’ body that represents the rights and interests of all the Koreans resident in Japan.
A huge famine hit North Korea in the mid-1990s. Ultimately, more than a million North Koreans died during the famine, and many only survived by eating grass, bugs, and tree bark.
We all want to be affiliated with success. It’s the impulse of people who have been excluded, and Koreans have been excluded from lots of parties.
Some people criticize North Koreans and ask, ‘Are they stupid? How can they believe those ridiculous things?’ But I say, It doesn’t matter if you’re smart: if you were born in North Korea, you would be exactly like us. We don’t know what freedom is. We have never enjoyed it.
We are hopeful that the North Koreans can show a little bit more realism, a little bit more flexibility.
The North Koreans have gained, or bought, a lot of time through the six-party-talks framework to pursue their own agenda.
Koreans are hilarious.
National partition is a sorrow that touches all Koreans, but for me it is brought to the fore by unimaginable personal suffering.
I think, Koreans, they’re really hard-working people. They’re really innovative, and they try new things all the time, so I think it’s just a matter of time when everyone will know K-pop.
Koreans are ambitious, man. It means a lot to my parents that I do the work that I do and it has the visibility.
All the organizations and officials of Chongryon, regarding this unity as the great foundation of the movement of Koreans in Japan, should rally themselves around the central leadership with one mind and purpose, and accomplish its patriotic cause, which was pioneered with comradely unity, by dint of comradeship.
The North Koreans have gained, or bought, a lot of time through the six-party-talks framework to pursue their own agenda.
North Koreans are tragically oppressed. Despite the risks to my personal safety, I feel a strong obligation to tell the world about the Orwellian nightmare that North Koreans face.
I think, Koreans, they’re really hard-working people. They’re really innovative, and they try new things all the time, so I think it’s just a matter of time when everyone will know K-pop.
In the spring of 2007, Israeli intelligence brought to Washington proof that the Assad regime in Syria was building a nuclear reactor along the Euphrates – with North Korean help. This reactor was a copy of the Yongbyon reactor the North Koreans had built, and was part of a Syrian nuclear weapons program.
I’ve been so lucky, received so much help and inspiration in my life, so I want to help give aspiring North Koreans a chance to prosper with international support.
In the spring of 2007, Israeli intelligence brought to Washington proof that the Assad regime in Syria was building a nuclear reactor along the Euphrates – with North Korean help. This reactor was a copy of the Yongbyon reactor the North Koreans had built, and was part of a Syrian nuclear weapons program.
I would not suggest the U.S. should sit down with the North Koreans bilaterally immediately after they’ve fired missiles – because the appearance is that you reward bad behavior. But if North Korea behaves for some period of time, I would pretty much favor direct talks.
By 1979, Chinese people were poorer, on average, than North Koreans. I mean, your average per-capita income in China that year was one third of sub-Saharan Africa’s.
Wherever Koreans are, they set up a church.
I apologize to Koreans, because six months ago I got a tattoo of the red sun with 16 rays. At that time, I didn’t know the history, but when I found out, I immediately scheduled it for removal.
The Berlin Wall fell because the East Germans saw the West had more. The Koreans don’t like the Japanese and try to prove to them that they are worth more in the industrial arena.
I wish that they had the freedoms like the Japanese and the Koreans and the Mexicans and everybody else that has that freedom to come over here and play the game, because I know Cuba has a very strong baseball history.
I respect the Japanese and especially like their execution and communication styles. Unlike the Koreans, they will not hit you from behind.
I think the notion of getting the North Koreans to denuclearize is probably a lost cause.
A huge famine hit North Korea in the mid-1990s. Ultimately, more than a million North Koreans died during the famine, and many only survived by eating grass, bugs, and tree bark.
Again, I think we have much greater diplomatic weight by having all of us sit on the same side of the table wanting the same thing, and putting it to the North Koreans.
I’ve been so lucky, received so much help and inspiration in my life, so I want to help give aspiring North Koreans a chance to prosper with international support.
As do most Koreans, Seoul residents consider the uncertainty related to housing to be the biggest threat to their livelihoods.
On average, the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese are more similar to each other and are different from Australians, Israelis and the Swedes, who in turn are similar to each other and are different from Nigerians, Kenyans, and Jamaicans.
If defectors say they had high-level connections in Pyongyang or came from an esteemed institution in the North, they can gain better employment in the South, where life can be very difficult for North Koreans.
This is a divisive issue, but I really hope for unification. Even though we have been divided for a long time, we are all Koreans, so we should live together in a united Korea.
There were stereotypes: you are from the communist country so you are not a hard worker. You talk awkwardly and speak with an accent and you don’t have any high education like us so you are basically stupid. And I am shorter than South Koreans – I was malnourished when I was young. It made me believe I was a loser.
Bilateral talks would have to achieve cessation of the missile work by the North Koreans. And it would have to include, as did the Iranian deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency or some other group coming in to assess that and to enforce that to give information about it internationally.
When I was little, I had never really expected to win such a big competition. For a long time, just skating in the Olympics had been my goal because not many Koreans had done it.
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