Author and activist Yeonmi Park, who defected from North Korea at the age of 13, recently recounted her harrowing experiences under the oppressive regime and her journey to freedom as a U.S. citizen and political advocate.
The event held on Tuesday, titled “From North Korea to America: Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness,” was organized by the Ciceronian Society and supported by the Young America Foundation.
Park emphasized that the initial lesson her mother imparted was:
“Don’t even whisper, because birds and mice could hear you.”
She further conveyed to the audience that in North Korea, uttering “one wrong word” could lead not only to her demise but also condemn three to eight generations of her family to guilt by association and death.
“In North Korea, every song, every book, every movie, literally everything has been about the worshiping of dictators and the party,” Park said. “We are not allowed to tell a human story in North Korea.”
Park relocated to the U.S. in 2014 to finalize her memoir, “To Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom,” which saw publication the subsequent year.
An influential figure within the conservative political sphere, Park actively engages in media appearances and tours college campuses nationwide to recount her experiences.
Notably, in August 2019, she delivered a TED Talk titled “What I learned about freedom after escaping North Korea,” and she presently manages a YouTube channel boasting over 1 million subscribers.
While Park’s narratives on North Korean conditions and the coherence of her accounts have been scrutinized by journalists and scholars of North Korean history, she has attributed any inconsistencies to challenges in English translation.
Park recounted receiving extensive acclaim after criticizing former President Donald Trump for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which she deemed as “legitimizing dictatorship in North Korea.” Until this juncture, Park had never felt her credibility to critique American politics was under scrutiny.
“Park recounted receiving extensive acclaim after criticizing former President Donald Trump for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which she deemed as “legitimizing dictatorship in North Korea.” Until this juncture, Park had never felt her credibility to critique American politics was under scrutiny.
Park has previously clarified that she does not align herself with conservatism. During the Tuesday event, she addressed being frequently labeled as a Republican or right-wing figure, questioning her familiarity with such terms had she not immigrated to the U.S. initially.
Throughout her discourse, Park alternated between humorous anecdotes about American culture and poignant narratives of abuse and human trafficking.
Park recounted how encountering deceased individuals became commonplace, likening it to observing trees in America. She vividly described witnessing a young boy perish from starvation while residing in North Korea.
Additionally, Park depicted the dire circumstances in which children resorted to consuming rats out of desperation, often succumbing to illness as a result.
“Starvation is a tool for dictatorship in North Korea. If you’re full in your tummy, what are you going to think about? You think about the meaning of life. You think about freedom,” Park said. “If you’re on the verge of dying from not having food, the only thing that consumes your mind is finding food.”
Park recounted that at the age of 13, around the time her elder sister fled to China, she fell ill. She asserted that while receiving treatment at a North Korean hospital, every patient was injected with the same needle.
According to Park, doctors initially suspected she had appendicitis. However, during the operation, they discovered she was suffering from infection and malnutrition.
Feeling “embarrassed,” the doctors proceeded to remove her appendix and sutured her without administering pain relief.
Park clarified that her decision to escape to China was not driven by a quest for freedom, a concept she claimed to have not comprehended while residing in North Korea. Instead, it stemmed from sheer desperation.
“It wasn’t the idea of self-expression or being an activist. [It was] simply hoping that I could find a bowl of rice,” she said.
Park reported that a man helped her cross the border to China, which she claims was being guarded by soldiers following a “shoot to kill” policy.
According to Park, she and her mother were purchased as sex slaves once they arrived in China. Park said that after two years of repeated rape from the ages of 13 to 15, Christian missionaries aided her escape to Mongolia, and that she crossed the Gobi Desert in 2009, traversing through subzero temperatures.
Park described the likelihood of successfully leaving China as “not even one percent.” Upon reaching Mongolia, she recounted pleading for her freedom until she was sent to South Korea.
After enduring two months of interrogations in South Korea, Park remembered experiencing her initial taste of freedom, having never had control over her body or mind.
Determined to pursue education, Park enrolled at Dongguk University in Seoul, studying criminal justice. Upon moving to the U.S. in 2014, she transferred to Columbia University.
During her time at Columbia, Park received emails before certain classes warning of discussions on topics like slavery or colonialism. This experience prompted her to question the trajectory of the U.S.
“If it triggers you in any way, don’t do the readings, don’t even come to class,” Park claimed the emails said.
Park highlighted Columbia as her introduction to “safe spaces,” expressing surprise that these areas aimed to “shield people from certain ideas” rather than ensuring physical safety.
She admired the individual liberty she experienced in the U.S. but expressed concern that the “good intention of lacking certain ideas” could lead to a more uniform, North Korea-like mindset.
“The Constitution thinks that my rights, which came from God, no state can take away from me,” she said. “It gave me a platform like this to speak.”
