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 DemickRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the tragic consequences of strict population control policies on families.
This quote underscores the severe human cost of governmental population control measures, particularly how they can lead to devastating personal tragedies. It illustrates the lengths to which officials will go to enforce such policies, even chasing individuals and causing potential harm or death in the process, thus reflecting on the broader implications of state control over personal reproductive choices.
Themes
Population ControlFamilyTragedyRightsGovernmentLoss
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used to discuss the impact of government policies on individual rights during a seminar on human rights.
More from Barbara Demick
All quotes →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 DemickRead
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