quotations of the day

In my eagerness to welcome the ruling party`s new whip, I have come to the National Assembly wearing a bright forsythia-colored tie. (Chung Chang-Hwa, floor leader of the Grand National Party (GNP), in a meeting Saturday with the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP)`s new whip Lee Sang-Soo)

Laozi said to be strong is to be tender. (MDP floor leader Lee Sang-Soo in a meeting with his opposition counterpart Chung Chang-Hwa on Saturday, paraphrasing a Chinese philosopher by saying that he would yield to the opposition what needs to be yielded and hold on to what needs to held)

The Maritime and Fisheries Minister ought to focus his energies on his proper work, not on waging a war against the media. (A netizen on the Cheong Wa Dae homepage Sunday, criticizing Minister Roh Moo-Hyun for his statement that we should be ready to wage a war against the press)

The Western media have taken the liberty of arbitrarily interpreting the Shanghai visit of North Korea`s supreme leader Kim Jong-Il, indulging in the use of such expressions as "new thinking." (Chosun Shinbo, organ of pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, in its Feb. 9 issue, refuting the argument that Kim`s visit to China meant he was following in Beijing`s footsteps by promoting market opening and reform)