“I wasn't dreaming of freedom when I escaped from North Korea... I was ...” — Park Yeon-mi Quote

I wasn't dreaming of freedom when I escaped from North Korea... I was willing to risk my life for the promise of a bowl of rice.

My concern is: How on earth is anything more urgent than the lives of people in North Korean concentration camps?

I'll live longer than Kim Jong-un - he's fatter than me. He doesn't like me.

If I keep silent, I am betraying my people.

South Koreans often don't think of North Korean defectors as Korean. While we have been granted citizenship, the locals don't consider us as South Korean citizens. We are often treated differently and viewed differently, even by people who care for us the most.

Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other peoples' money, except when it comes to questions of national survival when they prefer to be generous with other people's freedom and security.

Press freedom is not just about journalists, right? It's not just about us, it's not just about me, it's not just about Rappler. Press freedom is... the foundation of every single right of every single Filipino to the truth, so that we can hold the powerful to account.

We're giving our freedoms away. The American experiment was about freedom. Freedom to be stupid, freedom to fail, freedom to succeed.

Telling a story in a futuristic world gives you this freedom to explore things that bother you in contemporary times.