North Korea Confidential Quotes

“There is so much trade between North Korea and China that there are even goods made specifically for the North Korean market, such as televisions that run on very low power.”
― Daniel Tudor, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors

“Because people are paid virtually nothing, they have very little incentive to do much actual work.”
― Daniel Tudor, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors

“Because each person was only allowed to convert a maximum of 100,000 won (around US$30–40 at the time, according to black market rates). Anyone holding a sum greater than that—as someone engaged in business naturally would—saw their savings wiped out.”
― Daniel Tudor, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors

“The result was a serious famine between 1994 and 1998 that claimed the lives of between 200,000 and three million North Koreans.”
― Daniel Tudor, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors

“Things were ultimately exacerbated by a series of devastating floods in 1994 and 1995, which destroyed around 1.5 million tons of grain and ruined much of the nation’s infrastructure. Around 85 percent of North Korea’s power generation capacity was lost as a result.”
― Daniel Tudor, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors

“The main cause of North Korea’s recent social change is actually a tragic one: the famine of the mid 1990s, in which at least several hundred thousand people perished. The famine greatly weakened the bond between the state and the people, forcing the average North Korean to fend for him or herself.”
― Daniel Tudor, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors

“There are interesting trends developing in clothing, hair, cosmetics, beauty standards, and cosmetic surgery in North Korea. Those who consider such things trivial should think again: these trends are changing how some people feel about the DPRK authorities, and even inspiring a few to defect.”
― Daniel Tudor, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors