From: officialflagrant
Yeonmi Park is recognized as a survivor, a New York Times best-selling author, and a prominent voice against totalitarian regimes [00:00:30]. Her journey from North Korea to American citizenship highlights themes of resilience, freedom, and the stark contrast between her past and present life [00:02:00], [00:22:05].
Life in North Korea
Yeonmi Park was born in Hyesan, a northern part of North Korea [00:04:57]. Her upbringing there was incredibly difficult, with easy access to food being a constant struggle [00:06:05]. She recalled eating insects like grasshoppers (her favorite for their “chunk meat”), dragonflies, and butterflies [00:06:12], [00:06:24]. Dragonflies were caught using spider webs on a wire [00:06:35]. August was considered “dragonfly season,” a time when people could eat well [00:06:48]. Conversely, spring (February-March) was known as the “season of death” due to food scarcity [00:06:59].
Eating rats was also common [00:07:16], including by children [00:07:20]. Rats were prepared by skinning and boiling them, removing intestines, especially if they had tuberculosis [00:09:53]. Cockroaches were eaten as a snack, with the “grain-like” inside of their tummy considered the most delicious part [01:12:00], [01:12:28].
Daily life involved constant worry about finding food [00:07:41]. Despite the hardships, Yeonmi Park experienced a relatively fine life for North Korean standards before her father’s arrest, having food three times a day because he was a party member [00:25:54]. However, there was still no electricity, cars, toys, only two pairs of clothes, no showers, and no refrigerators [00:26:00].
Control and Propaganda
North Korea’s regime heavily controls its citizens’ lives. Comedy, for instance, must glorify dictators [00:15:08]. Critical remarks about the leader can lead to severe consequences, including the arrest and execution of up to eight generations of a family [00:17:19]. Even reading the Bible is punishable by execution [02:11:09]. The country operates on its own time zone and calendar, which begins with Kim Il-sung’s birth [02:29:00].
The capital, Pyongyang, is maintained to appear prosperous, similar to the Capitol in “The Hunger Games,” to create a facade for foreigners [02:44:00]. However, even tourists are not allowed to move freely and are always accompanied [02:47:00]. The regime’s goal is to maintain control by starving its population, making them too weak to fight back [02:51:00]. North Korea is funded by selling weapons, including nuclear technology obtained from the Soviet Union [02:77:00]. China props up North Korea by providing essential resources like oil and holding mineral rights for 300 years, effectively owning the country [02:91:00], [02:93:00]. This relationship also benefits China by deflecting attention from its own human rights violations [02:84:00].
North Korea divides its citizens into 51 different classes based on “royalty,” such as whether ancestors were landowners [02:55:00], [02:56:00]. Marriage and job assignments are mandated by the government [02:24:00].
Human Rights Violations in North Korea
Human rights violations in North Korea are severe. There are three types of prisons:
- Re-education camps: Sentences of less than two years [01:27:00].
- Labor camps (prison camps): Sentences of over 10 years; her father was sent to one [01:32:00].
- Political prison camps: Lifetime sentences, where people rarely last more than three months, often worked to death or used for nuclear weapon debris cleanup [01:36:00], [01:42:00].
Rape is a common occurrence in military service, with officers raping women soldiers, and the women being punished if they become pregnant [01:59:00]. There is no concept of “Me Too” or sexual harassment [01:59:00].
Escape to China
At 13 years old, Yeonmi Park and her mother escaped to China by crossing a frozen river [01:39:00]. The border was heavily guarded by machine guns every 10 meters, though after Kim Jong-un, landmines, electrified wire fences, and facial recognition cameras were added, making escape nearly impossible [01:40:00]. Their broker bribed guards to allow them passage [01:32:00].
Upon arrival in China, her mother was sold to mentally ill farmers as a sex slave [01:44:00], [01:52:00]. Her mother was sold several times, once for 200 [01:47:00]. The broker who helped them escape also sold her own children, and was later executed for her actions, with eight generations of her family arrested [01:49:00], [01:53:00]. Yeonmi Park recognizes that being sold was the only way she could have survived [01:59:00].
Journey to South Korea
From China, Yeonmi Park undertook an “unbelievable journey” to Mongolia, then to South Korea [01:93:00]. This included a 24-hour straight journey across the Gobi Desert at -40°F [01:94:00]. She was rescued by missionaries who insisted she believe in miracles, as the chance of survival was only 1% [01:97:00]. They had no proper cold-weather gear, only thick jackets, leading to frostbite and slow healing [02:00:00]. Missionaries tested escapees on the Bible because they believed North Koreans, brainwashed by the Kim regime’s similar theology, needed to learn the true gospel [02:05:00]. The price for rescue was becoming Christian, involving a month of training, memorizing psalms, testing, praying, and fasting [02:11:00].
Life in South Korea and America
After arriving in South Korea, she received support from the government, including nutritionists to help her body digest food properly after prolonged starvation [00:08:16]. Her first meal there was boiled eggs, which seemed like a wild dream [00:08:44].
She later studied at Columbia University and obtained American citizenship [02:21:00]. She noted that American rats were significantly bigger than North Korean rats due to better access to food [00:09:11].
Adapting to New Realities
Yeonmi Park faced challenges adapting to American society:
- Body shaming: After coming to America, she was immediately told to watch food labels and avoid rice, making her feel bad after experiencing food scarcity in North Korea [00:08:00].
- Concepts of race and sexuality: She had no idea about race before coming to South Korea [02:50:00]. She didn’t know what “black” was, and initially thought all white people looked the same [02:50:00]. Similarly, she had no concept or vocabulary for “gay” in North Korea [02:54:00], [02:54:00].
- Freedom and choice: The overwhelming freedom of choice, from ordering food to choosing a life path, was initially “painful” and “tiring” because she had never thought for herself [03:46:00]. She admits she can see why people desire governments to take care of them, as freedom also comes with responsibility [03:07:00], [03:09:00].
- Relationships: She dated an Iranian man, who she initially thought was Arab, but was impressed by his “game” [02:22:00]. She married and had a son, later divorcing [02:57:00]. She is now engaged to a man she met on Bumble during the pandemic [02:59:00]. She struggled with American dating norms, initially not understanding that dinner meant a date [03:00:00], [03:06:00]. She also discussed cultural gaps in her relationship, where attempts to be thoughtful were interpreted as controlling due to differing views on gender roles [03:45:00].
- Substances: She started drinking wine during her divorce [01:10:30]. She tried weed, but it didn’t affect her [01:13:00]. She found MDMA-psilocybin (mushrooms) therapy “amazing,” allowing her to reconnect with her father and address survivor’s guilt [01:14:00].
Perspectives on Freedom and Society
Yeonmi Park passionately advocates for freedom and criticizes what she perceives as societal issues in America:
- Critique of “Wokeness”: She expresses concern about the “woke ideology” prevalent in American universities, stating that Columbia University professors promote Marxist ideology [01:45:00]. She believes it distracts from the real enemy (dictatorships) and demonizes concepts like the Constitution and capitalism [01:47:00].
- Gender and Equality: She sympathizes with the struggles of men in modern society, arguing that the narrative often portrays them as “toxic” [01:52:00]. She believes true equality means acknowledging differences between men and women, rather than forcing “equality of outcomes” [01:56:00].
- American vs. Other Racism: She views American racism as comparatively mild, citing that some restaurants in Japan and South Korea explicitly bar foreigners [02:21:00], [02:22:00].
- Right to Bear Arms: She strongly believes that citizens should have the right to own guns to protect themselves from potential government overreach, stating that if North Koreans had guns, her father would not have been taken [03:09:00]. She found shooting a gun “empowering” [03:05:00].
- Experience of Oppression: She argues that if someone truly believes they are oppressed, they don’t even know the word for it, implying that the comfort of American society leads people to perceive minor issues as major oppression [03:16:00].
Challenges and Public Perception
Yeonmi Park has faced skepticism and attempts to discredit her story. Detractors accuse her of fabrication or lying, often citing minor inaccuracies, some of which she attributes to English language proficiency issues or the need to hide her past trauma (being a sex slave) for social acceptance in South Korea [02:11:00], [02:12:00].
A major group attempting to discredit her are followers of Marxist-Leninist ideologies who hate America and therefore support North Korea as a “socialist paradise” [02:13:00]. She believes they resent her for debunking socialism [02:14:00]. She also criticizes American mainstream media for allegedly self-censoring to avoid upsetting China, making it difficult to find unbiased platforms to share her story [02:13:00]. She experienced direct censorship when the FBI Dallas canceled her speech because her “political opinions are too big” [02:13:00]. She also noted difficulty in finding a narrator for her audiobook because it was considered a “conservative book” [02:16:00].
She expresses frustration that her stories about severe human rights violations in North Korea are demonetized on platforms like YouTube, while other, less severe issues receive support [02:00:00]. She believes that comparing American prison experiences to North Korean concentration camps, as some suggest she should, diminishes the severity of the latter [02:16:00]. She does not miss eating insects or rats, and would not go back to that lifestyle [01:39:00].
Yeonmi Park maintains her fight to educate people, believing that humanity is capable of understanding abstract concepts like the hardships she faced, and that progress is not automatic but requires continuous effort [03:52:00], [03:54:00].