One thing was clear. Their collective decision to switch their essay topics to condemn America seemed to have been compelled by the articles about Zuckerberg.
Such is the condition of a first-generation immigrant for whom everything is separated into now and then, into before the move and after.
Never hint that there is something wrong with their country.
18
These lovely, lying children, I saw very clearly that there was no redemption here.
Lesson began—more of a get-to-know-you
The entire country was like a linguistic and cultural Galápagos.
Sometimes the longer you are inside a prison, the harder it is to fathom what is possible beyond its walls.
I wondered if it was possible that they had never been taught that lying was a bad thing.
But the blessing came with its price. Being bilingual, being multicultural should have brought two worlds into one heart, and yet for Suzy, it meant a persistent hollowness. It seems that she needed t...
That was the inherent contradiction. This was a nation backed into a corner. They did not want to open up, and yet they had no choice but to move toward engagement if they wanted to survive. They had...
They would swear that the United States was their number one enemy, and yet carrying a pack of Marlboro Lights seemed to be a sign of privilege and class.
TIME THERE SEEMED TO PASS DIFFERENTLY. WHEN YOU ARE shut off from the world, every day is exactly the same as the one before. This sameness has a way of wearing down your soul until you become nothing...
I sang along, but I could not help noticing that if you replaced the word Jesus with Great Leader, the content was not so different from some of the North Korean songs my students chanted several time...
That the unfortunate thing about losing the trivia game was that they had been caught cheating and should have cheated better, I wondered if it was possible that they had never been taught that lying...
North Korea was the evangelical Christian Holy Grail, the hardest place to crack in the whole world, and converting its people would guarantee the missionaries a spot in heaven.
I reminded myself that I did not come from a place where mind games were a prerequisite for survival to such an extreme degree, a place where the slightest act of rebellion could have unimaginable con...
I feel a greater obligation, both as a writer and as someone deeply concerned about the future of Korea, to tell the stark truth about the DPRK, in hopes that the lives of average North Koreans, inclu...
I am often asked, Which Korea do you come from? North or South? It is a nonsensical question. The chance of me or any Korean out and about in the world being from the North is almost nil. Virtually no...
As for unmarried women, I have no idea where they are buried. For a very long time, in Korea, no one talked about them.)