I agonize over the suffering that the North Korean people must be experiencing. Every time I'm having a meal and I leave some food, I think about how… - Kim Dae-jung

If parents can tell their kids, `Look at Kim Dae Jung: Live upright, put your effort into a good cause and you will be successful,' then I think my life would be very meaningful

I believe democracy is the foundation of a healthy economy. Without genuine democracy you cannot have a genuine market economy. And, under the market economy, one must fully open doors to allow free trade and investment.

In China and Korea, feudalism was brought down and replaced with counties and prefectures before the birth of Christ, and civil service exams to recruit government officials are a thousand years-old. The exercise of power by the king and high officials were monitored by robust systems of auditing. In sum, Asia was rich in the intellectual and institutional traditions that would provide fertile grounds for democracy. What Asia did not have was the organizations of representative democracy. The genius of the west was to create the organizations, a remarkable accomplishment that has greatly advanced the history of humankind.