A Look Inside Life in North Korea: The Yeonmi Park Story

Liberty. A word most often taken for granted in the modern era. Living in the Western world we are born into a society that allows us the freedom to live a life of our own choosing. We can travel where we want, work an occupation of our own liking, and express our political views with the protection of free speech. At times we’ll share grievances with our governments on social media, but as a whole we live in a society that’s never been freer nor safer.

The safety of the world, the equilibrium of the East and West, allows us to live in the illusion of a “peaceful” world where most of the fighting occurs out of frame, due to the work of clandestine services and third-party fighters. There is no need for the major powers of the world to engage in direct contact with one another, instead we fight in the name of trade. Tariffs not Kalashnikovs.

But this balance has come at a cost. The cost of a forgotten nation. The cost of 25 million people who have become a political pawn in a world with which they have no voice. Born into a life inconceivable to anyone outside of the hermit kingdom, the people of North Korea have no idea what liberty means, nor have they ever heard the word uttered.

Six years ago I came across the video of a young woman who had defected North Korea. She spoke at the One Young World Summit in Dublin and shared her story of escaping North Korea to only be captured by human smugglers and sold into the Chinese sex trade. She watched her mother sacrifice herself to save her daughter, raped before her eyes. Her father, who would later join her on this journey, would end up dying during their travels. She was forced to bury him in the middle of the night under the cover of darkness to elude authorities.

Her speech brought me to tears. I wept. I wept because we live in a world we perceive to be free yet we allow an entire nation to live in tyranny.

Is the life of a North Korean worth less than that of an American, Russian, or the people of China? How about that of a Mexican, Syrian or Somalian? We should all be seen as equal in the eyes of the world.

After six years of my own silence, I decided to reach out and contact this young woman. Her name, Yeonmi Park.

After speaking out against Kim Jong-un and the North Korean regime her entire family that remained in North Korea disappeared. Every. Single. One. They are all dead or in political labor camps. The truth of their fate we may never know.

This is why it’s so imperative this story be told. We, the voice of the world, have the power AND the choice to make the world a freer place. To create a world where we are not subject to be ridiculed by our race, religion, sexual ethnicity or gender. Rather we shall embrace one another and call out for universal brotherhood and sisterhood to unite us all. It is our social responsibility to leave the world in a better place for future generations, the future of mankind. We must share our voice and refuse to be silenced.

For as Yeonmi says, “No matter the fear, no matter the risk I’m taking I will not stop because such a high price has been paid for me to have this voice.”

JON STENVALL: What was life like growing up in North Korea?

YEONMI PARK: Growing up in North Korea is indescribable. It’s the word we use here [in the United States] because it is essentially like living on a different planet. You know as people who live here cannot imagine life on Mars. It’s as if our common sense, the things that we think should be, does not apply in North Korea. So I mean where do I begin?

It’s a life where people do not even understand what freedom is, what human rights is. They do not have any clue that they live in this very oppressed country.

Growing up as a young girl in in North Korea I sang songs about living in the best country in the world. That every human in the world is envious of us because we have the greatest leader and I literally thought that North Korea was the center of this universe.

JON: Did you have any viewpoint of the world outside of North Korea? When was the first time you heard the word freedom?

YEONMI: It was when I was in China as a sexual slave. There was another defector woman who told me that if we go to South Korea as North Korean defectors we would be free. I literally had to ask her, “What do you mean we are going to be free?” She told me that you can wear your jeans, watch movies, and no one is going to be arresting you for that.

So when I risked my life and crossed the Gobi desert from China to Mongolia to freedom I did not risk my life for freedom of speech. All I actually imagined it being was that I could wear jeans as a teenager. I could watch my favorite Korean K-Pop movies or Hollywood love story movies, because those things were punishable by death in North Korea so for me it was like the greatest idea I’d ever heard in my life.

JON: How did you escape North Korea? I know it is very rare for someone to make it out. There are so many logistical issues within the country and then you deal with traveling through China, across the Gobi Desert, and eventually to South Korea. How did you escape North Korea?

YEONMI: The context of escape from North Korea is much different than people fleeing from other regions like Syria. In North Korea we don’t have the internet. In my time, in 2007, we did not have mobile phones. Those were all banned back then. So it wasn’t like we were sitting down one day looking at the map, looking at the internet, to see where we were going to go.

My price was less than $300 when I was 13 years old because I was a virgin.

For me luckily I was living in the town Hyesan that has a border with China so I was able to see the electricity lights coming from China at night. That’s when I thought maybe if I go where the lights are I might be able to find some food.

We crossed the frozen Yalu River from North Korea to China and then we were bought by human traffickers in China to be sold as sexual slaves. My price was less than $300 when I was 13 years old because I was a virgin. My mother was sold also but her price was less than $100 because she was old. That’s how we survived two years in China before we crossed the frozen Gobi desert to Mongolia from China. That’s when we were able to go to South Korea from Mongolia to be free.

JON: Do you still have contact with people who live in North Korea?

YEONMI: In North Korea if one commits a crime, not only the person gets punished, but three generations of family get punished. Because of the speech that I gave six years ago at the One Young World in Dublin, three generations of my family in North Korea have been banished. I don’t know if they have been executed or sent to a political prison camp.

I do have the contacts that I work with in North Korea but not family members.

JON: For people that don’t know the three generation law in North Korea: anyone that commits a crime is subject to three generations of punishment. That would include yourself, your child and future grandchildren, correct?

YEONMI: Yes. Sometimes it’s even worse. The three generations include your grandpa, your children, your cousins, everybody right. Sometimes in the worst cases it includes the in-laws. There was one high official, one of the highest officials, who escaped. Because of him more than 30,000 people were punished. Most of them didn’t even know they were related to him. The government went to the degree of tracking down his in-laws and the children of his in-laws. That’s how zero-tolerance the regime is when it comes to defectors. They won’t allow it.

JON: Is COVID-19 affecting North Korea right now? We haven’t heard any official reports in the Western world but what are you hearing from your contacts inside North Korea.

YEONMI: Absolutely. The biggest trading partner with North Korea is China. There are hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists and business people going to North Korea, until recently. There is without question cases of COVID-19 in North Korea. Even though the North Korean regime comes out saying we have zero cases of COVID-19 in North Korea; they say that because they don’t want the social destruction. They want to respect China. They don’t want to make China look bad because they are their big brother who is helping them.

The government nailed their doors, would not let them leave, so they died inside their house.

North Korea keeps saying zero cases, saving Chinese face. It has been spreading throughout the country. One of the reports that came out very early on was that there were five people in one family in that got COVID-19. The government nailed their doors, would not let them leave, so they died inside their house.

The people who have COVID-19 are taken to a facility. Basically it’s a place they usually die, they don’t provide any medicine, doctors, or even food. Just send them there to be banished from this Earth. This is how they are controlling the news from coming out of those who have COVID-19. They are keeping an eye on it and not doing anything to those who are suffering from this pandemic.

JON: Where exactly are they sending the people who are infected?

YEONMI: The people I know in North Korea have said that they have these facilities all around the country where they are detaining victims of COVID-19. Sending them there with no doctors, medical assistance or food. It’s almost like being sent to a political prison camp to die.

Satellite image of Hamhung concentration camp (Kyo-hwa-so No. 15), a reeducation camp in North Korea (DigitalGlobe/Getty Images)

JON: Is there a healthcare system in North Korea?

YEONMI: According to North Korean officials they say they have one but in reality they don’t even have oxygen tanks. The hospitals, even ones with x-ray machines, don’t have 24 hours of electricity so they don’t run the machine. Only the people who have money for gasoline or something to burn to power the machine get treatment.

I remember the doctor started to rub and stroke my belly saying that was penicillin. That’s when they opened my stomach without any anesthesia.

When I was hospitalized for my appendix removal they had no anesthesia. The nurse in the hospital used one needle to treat everybody and used crushed beer bottles as [IV containers]. That is how the system is. If you can’t afford to buy penicillin or any of those medications you cannot get treated. Most of the treatment quality is not good and the machines do not work.

That being said, when I had my appendix removed it was really horrible and improperly managed. I had some fear in my stomach. I remember the doctor started to rub and stroke my belly saying that was penicillin. That’s when they opened my stomach without any anesthesia.

That is how bad it is in North Korea. The general population doesn’t die from cancer or anything like that. Hunger, disease and infection are what kills the most. So most the people I know in North Korea die from starvation or infection.

Kim Jong-un visits the Taesongsan General Hospital in Pyongyang being built by the People’s Army (Photo: AFP)

JON: Let’s talk about what’s going on right now with Kim-Jong Un. What are you hearing in North Korea?

YEONMI: I do have to say that anyone who says they know what’s going on has to be a lie. It’s all speculation. Even my sources and the sources that other people have within North Korea, even the people in North Korea working for the North Korean regime they all are guessing. Nobody exactly knows what’s happening except the Dear Leader and the three people next to him. That is how secretive this regime is.

I don’t think the South Korean intelligence or United States intelligence knows exactly what’s happening. Think about it when Kim Jong-il died, Kim Jong-un’s father, it took 48 hours. U.S. intelligence, South Korean intelligence, nobody knew what was happening. No one knew that he died.

Kim Jong-un pictured with his sister Kim Yo-jong (photo Pyongyang Press Corp Pool)

JON: Would the leadership allow Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, to become Supreme Leader if he passed away?

YEONMI: There are two North Koreas. There is the North Korea that is elite and there is the North Korea that 25 million people live in. When Kim Jong-un was named heir he was welcome by the elite and by the people for three reasons: he is a man, he is Kim Jong-il’s son, and he looks like his grandfather.

Kim Jong-il had already placed Kim Jong-un before his passing. He said this is going to my heir, this will be the guy who will continue after me. In Kim Jong-il’s case, his father Kim il-sung said he was going to be heir for 20 years. This has been the tradition in North Korea.

In this scenario Kim Yo-jong has not been officially saying by the Dear Leader, the current leader, that this is my heir who is going to continue after me. The other thing is that she cannot be welcome by the People in North Korea because it is not in our tradition that women lead.

There is a saying in North Korea: The man is the sky and the women are ground. The gap between man and woman can never be met like the sky is far from the ground.

She might try to come to power by killing a lot of people and really asking for the throne, but she cannot last like any of her predecessors.

This saying is very important in the culture. When I was growing up in North Korea at all my friends’ houses they could not eat until their father started eating and they could not stop eating until their father finished eating. A lot of families don’t even share the same table with the men and the women. Sons can join the father’s main table but daughters cannot. That is how different North Korea is.

The other people who live in North Korea are the elite. They are in their sixties and seventies. Almost all guys, men. Kim Yo-jong is only 32. I mean there is no way these men are going to call her Dear Leader and think of her as a father almost. There is no way you can do that, sadly. She cannot be accepted by the elite or by the public.

Also, Kim Jong-un has not been promoting her as his heir at any time. Even if he dies this time, Kim Yo-jong is not the career heir for the throne because it does not keep in tradition of her being selected by the Dear Leader. That is my speculation.

She might try to come to power by killing a lot of people and really asking for the throne, but she cannot last like any of her predecessors.

North Korean refugees hiding in a barn in Chang Bai, China (AP Photo/Pomnyun/Korean Buddhist Sharing Movement)

JON: When I was in Cuba I saw what I would call a “revolution of awareness” within the youth of the country. Not a political revolution, but a shift in the way of thinking from even ten years ago. Due to black market access to the internet they are watching a surprising amount of American content and exposed to the ideas of political freedom and equality.

Similar content is being smuggled into North Korea via the Chinese border on USBs. It is predicted that over a million North Koreans have access to this illegal content. Since the North Korean leadership is in their seventies, do you see a “revolution of awareness” occurring with the youth in the near future?

YEONMI: Yea I completely agree. That’s what I saw when I was in North Korea and that is what I’m seeing now. When Kim Jong-il came to power there was no internet. There was no globalization around the world. The Cold War was still happening and they had a lot of allies.

I think the change in North Korea is inevitable and it is near.

In Kim Jong-un’s time it is a completely different North Korea. There is of course no internet in North Korea but there are 31,000 defectors that have escaped to South Korea, one of the most evolved democracies in the world. Around 80% of those people are reaching back to their family members in North Korea through smugglers to send them information and money.

I obviously do that. I have a contact in North Korea through China. North Korean phones cannot make international phone calls, but we smuggle Chinese phones with the internet through the border region in North Korea. In the border region they do receive the Chinese phone signal. We call using a Chinese number and talk to them almost every day. That’s how the phones are smuggled into North Korea and how we receive this news.

They have a lot of content sent to North Korea with outside information. A lot of thumbdrives with American and K-Pop movies have been going in. The North Korean youth especially are awakening and can see that there might be more than what they’re told by the dictator.

Kim Jong-un cannot stop this revolution. It is a very quiet revolution for now but that will change once they come into a position within society. The “black market generation.” When they get into their thirties and forties in a very major part of society, they don’t have any loyalty towards the regime. They are not going to be okay with oppression.

I think the change in North Korea is inevitable and it is near. It is going to happen in the near future for all of us.

JON: Are you still afraid to speak out against the North Korean regime? I’m sure you were when you first started. It took so much courage for you to share your story back in 2014. Six years later now in 2020, are you still afraid?

YEONMI: I have a lot of threats. Not only by Kim Jong-un and the regime, but I have a lot of threats from people that hate America, hate capitalism and democracy. The United States, the western democracy, has a lot of enemies. I don’t know if you are aware of that.

There are so many people who are Marxist, who are Leninist that support communist and socialism. In their view North Korea is the last country in the world with the socialist ideology. It is almost like a religious cult. The people who very sympathetic to this communist and socialist ideology hate me a lot. I get a lot of death threats from these people.

No matter the fear, no matter the risk I’m taking I will not stop because such a high price has been paid for me to have this voice.

As you heard in my speech there are so many people who died before they ever had a voice in this world.

After that speech, after I spoke out three generations of my family left in North Korea have been banished. I don’t know if they have been publicly executed or are in a political prison camp right now but they are all gone. Back then I was 20-21 years old and I wasn’t sharing anything with the world that wasn’t already well known. I wasn’t talking about military secrets or none of that.

I had no idea that the video would end up going viral so I didn’t think of all those consequences. But it did. [Kim Jong-un] did try to silence me even after the escape.

No matter the fear, no matter the risk I’m taking I will not stop because such a high price has been paid for me to have this voice.