We're always observing, and we're cautious people. We really want attention, but at the same time, we're ashamed of wanting attention. All those bizarre qualities of being outside are necessary for being a writer.
Min Jin LeeRead
Twenty-five million people who live in North Korea are denied freedom in every respect of their lives. In short, they are hostages. Imagine 25 million hostages.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the severe lack of freedom experienced by the people of North Korea, likening their situation to that of hostages.
Min Jin Lee's quote emphasizes the plight of the North Korean population, illustrating how they are denied basic human rights and freedoms. By describing them as 'hostages,' she draws attention to the extreme oppression faced by these individuals, inviting reflection on their circumstances and the moral responsibility of the international community towards their liberation.
Themes
FreedomOppressionHuman RightsNorth KoreaHostages
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing human rights violations, this quote could be used to emphasize the urgency of the situation in North Korea.
More from Min Jin Lee
All quotes βMy father was born on Christmas Day in 1934. He grew up in what is now part of North Korea. When the Korean War began, my father was 16, and he found passage on an American refugee ship,thinking he'd be gone for just a few days, but he never saw his mother or his sister again.
Min Jin LeeRead
I think it's not an accident that you don't have that many Asian American women writers who are breaking out. I don't think it's an accident that you don't have that many Asian American writers, either women or men. I don't think that immigrants are encouraged to become artists. That's very gendered and racialized and ethnicized.
Min Jin LeeRead
Koreans are worried about the Japanese right-wing people, who tend to be against foreigners. But the Koreans in Japan aren't even foreigners. They are essentially culturally Japanese. If a family has lived in Japan for three generations, it's absurd to see them as foreigners.
Min Jin LeeRead
I've often felt like an outsider, not necessarily because I'm Korean, an immigrant, or female. I think writers are odd people.
Min Jin LeeRead
Education is a beautiful, liberating thing, but I think that tying in education and status, and the need to do well at every cost, is toxic.
Min Jin LeeRead
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