On December 5th, the non-profit organization “Turning Point USA” hosted a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley featuring North Korean defector Yeonmi Park, who shared her firsthand experiences of escaping from communist North Korea. The event attracted a large audience, with every seat taken and applause echoing throughout the venue.
Yeonmi Park is a well-known defector and human rights activist from North Korea. Born in the northern region of Korea in 1993, she was sold into China’s Shandong province at the age of 13 and endured hardships before eventually escaping to South Korea. She now resides in New York, USA.
During the lecture, Yeonmi Park reminisced about her upbringing in North Korea. She mentioned that at that time, she knew very little about the world. The North Korean calendar began with Kim Il-sung’s birth year, and she didn’t even know she was Asian, only identifying as a subject of Kim Il-sung, never having seen a world map. She described North Korea as an isolated country, almost like living on a different planet.
Yeonmi Park also shared that in North Korea, she never had a full meal, and her biggest dream was to own a large bucket of bread. She had parents, a sister, attended school like most children, but the education provided was not science or practical knowledge. Even in math class, teachers indoctrinated communist ideology.
Her mother warned her from a young age: “Don’t speak carelessly, because even birds and mice can hear you.” Her mother also said that her mouth was the most dangerous, as speaking an unauthorized word against the government could lead to repercussions for three to eight generations of the family. Yeonmi Park mentioned that this was known as the “guilt by association” rule.
She stated that communism, under the guise of “absolute equality”, free healthcare, education, housing, and welfare, led to the complete deprivation of private property, stripping people of everything, including freedom. The North Korean regime categorized people into 51 classes based on family background. For instance, families who supported Kim Il-sung during the revolution were labeled as “loyal lineage” and enjoyed privileges, while those with landowner background were classified as “tainted lineage”. This class system not only determined one’s family origins but also decided if they were fed or starved, mirroring a real-life version of “The Hunger Games”.
Yeonmi Park noted that Kim Jong-un’s issue was his obesity, as he ate excessively while the North Korean people had little to no food. For those in the lower echelons of North Korean society, hunger was deliberately inflicted upon them. She emphasized that the famine in North Korea was entirely man-made. Kim Jong-un conducted over 500 missile tests, with the cost of each test being enough to feed the entire North Korean population for years. If he conducted one less test, North Korea could reduce hunger and death significantly.
She mentioned that while it’s well-known that North Korea has concentration camps, a population facing severe hunger, lack of electricity, and internet access, few understand that the communist regime completely manipulated the language, erasing many crucial concepts. This language control mirrored George Orwell’s depiction in “1984”. For example, “good” could be interpreted as “bad”, and “enslavement” could be defined as “freedom”.
Yeonmi Park gave an example that in North Korea, the word “stress” did not exist. How could there be stress in a “socialist paradise”? Thus, the term was entirely eliminated. Similarly, the word “love” was eradicated. In North Korea, the only entity allowed to be loved was the “Great Leader”. People were never taught to love their parents, partners, spouses, or children. She recalled how as a child, her teacher informed her that her biological father was only her “father in a biological sense”, and her true father was the “beloved leader”. Children were taught to hate their parents, sever ties with their families, and view the government as their sole reliance.
She mentioned that North Koreans were unaware of the term “human rights”. If the term itself didn’t exist, how could people understand the concept of “human rights”? Similarly, if they didn’t know the word “freedom”, how could they recognize what freedom meant?
In North Korea, Yeonmi Park, through DVDs smuggled from China, watched the American film “Titanic”. It took her nearly seven months to finish the movie, leaving a profound impact on her. Yeonmi Park confessed that it was the first time she truly felt the existence of humanity. She said that in North Korea, life was viewed as the state’s property, with individuals having no significance other than serving the Communist Party and dying for the revolution.
The spring of 2007 in North Korea was labeled as the “season of death”. Due to immature plants and scarcity of insects, many perished from starvation. At that time, Yeonmi Park survived by catching dragonflies and locusts. However, hunger fueled her determination to escape North Korea in search of enough food to sustain her life.
Yeonmi Park and her mother embarked on the perilous journey to escape from North Korea. She recalled how the North Korean border was heavily guarded, with soldiers carrying firearms instructed to shoot to kill. They didn’t warn or attempt to capture escapees; upon spotting anyone attempting to cross the river, they would open fire.
During her escape, she encountered a woman who helped them successfully cross the Yalu River by bribing border soldiers. However, upon reaching the shores of China, she discovered that this woman was actually a human trafficker.