On this episode of China Uncensored
the only place worse than North Korea.
Apparently it's China.
Hi welcome to China Uncensored
I'm your host Chris Chappell.
North Korea, not a fun place
We've heard a lot about North Korea,
but today you're going to get an insider's view
I sat down with the North Korean defector - Yeon-mi Park
She and her mother escaped from North Korea when she was 13.
But when they got to China,
they found life actually got a whole lot worse.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you so much for having me on the show.
So you're originally from North Korea.
Not a fun place.
Yeah!
So what about is lifelike in North Korea?
Oh, I think often I think of North Korea that
I do not know how to describe it really.
Because it's almost a different planet.
Mm-hmm.
I was born 1993 and the Soviet Union collapsed right before I was born.
Snd they're stopped helping North Korean regime.
So consequently, North Korea stopped providing food the ration to the general public.
They didn feed elite people
but not the people like us who was normal people .
And we were very hungry
that we did not know how to find food.
And that was just find anything you can find in the nature.
So I was, you know, grasshoppers and they are tasty
Are they?
Yeah but the not the dragonfly,
I kind of like roasted head part and ate only head.
But yeah dragonflies are a lot more tastier than that.
Okay.
And I know people in North Korea are
told a lot of propaganda
Yeah.
What are they told about their own country?
So it's very easy like to imagine George Orwell's 1984.
You know, they, I mean because I was in the countryside
I was never allowed leave the country
there's no internet.
We don't have magazines we don't have anything else
we don't even have advertisement.
Everything is a propaganda.
So in that world, they tell us that
there are enemies which is Americans, Japanese.
And US is imperialist.
And they are neutral about China sometimes.
And they say our enemies are trying to attack us at any point.
And if they do, they're gonna eat us all alive like they're monsters.
So we need our dear leader to defend us.
So they teach us that how grateful we are
that we are safe from our enemies
because of our dear leader.
And they tell us that we have nothing to envy in this world
because we are in the paradise on earth.
So the horrible corrupt leaders who are destroying the country
they're portrayed as the only ones keeping you safe.
And he's a god, he's just not a human being
North Korea's one of [...] in the world.
So I literally thought that
Kim Jong Il was able to read my thoughts.
Really.
Yes, even when I escaped to China in this horrible condition
Chinese people told me:
"You have a fat dictator that's why you're suffering
and I defend them: "What the heck are you talking about
Even after you got to China?
Even after I was in China
because I thought it was God that he could read my thoughts.
Like a Bible, you got [...] but he's [...] all the time
he knows how many hair you have.
He knows what you were thinking.
So that's how they brainwash us.
Sounds a little less creepy in the Bible than Kim Jong Il.
Yeah, I think the Kim, the first Kim's like parents or Creation.
I think he he did read the Bible,
so he copied it.
In North Korean if you read the Bible you're gonna be executed.
There's no freedom of religion in any way.
But as I understand, you obtained an illegally smuggled copy of Titanic
and that sort of changed things for you.
Yeah
So this black market that people created in the 90s
when the government stopped giving us food
and we had to find way to survive
and that was black market.
And black market did provide us a lot of goods
like clothes, food, but they also gave us also information from China
And this smuggler the black DVD was, one of our family members got it
and also gave to us.
And I saw they along with my parents.
And I couldn't just believe that someone could make a movie
out of shameful story like a love story
that nothing in North Korea was dedicated a human story.
It's all about revolution, is all about dear leader.
Oh, so it specifically because it was about two people who felt love that's what was...
that was such a shameful thing and like
they don't teach us about a Shakespeare
we don't know who Romeo and Julie is.
Those things are never cherished.
So in that society, just seeing the movie was dedicated to people's love story
it made no sense to me.
And I think that's when I kind of had some taste of humanity and freedom.
And so eventually you and your mom decided to flee to China.
Why did you make that decision?
Because we were hungry, we are very very hungry
So if we didn't get out that summer
I mean that spring, we knew that we were gonna die from starvation.
So it was almost like escape to China was not like
we're googling well what's gonna happen.
If you, in this room there's a fire,
what I'm gonna do?
You have no exit, you have to jump off.
even if you survive or not, you have tried the last option that you got.
That's what we jump and
That's desparate.
Yeah.
That was China.
So how do you make that track?
We, before I escaped,
my sister escaped first at the age of 16 with her friend.
And she left me a note.
And she told me to find this woman that she found.
So after her escape,
I found this woman
and she introduces some brokers
who were sending us to China.
What would have happened if you had gotten caught?
Oh they've shoot us.
there are every 10 meters wire, there are guys guards use the guns
and like machine gun they shoot,
they don't even like ask you to stop, they just shoot anyone caught.
But the this broker who was sending us to China they bribe the guards on that spot.
And so when you got to China,
they welcomed you with open arms?
Oh yeah, I wish they did.
It was actually worse than North Korea.
Worse than North Korea?
Yeah.
Tell us about that.
it was [...] in March
we cross the frozen Yalu river to Changbai
in North East China.
Once we got there, we the first thing was you know
my mother raped by the broker.
I was 13 but this broker wanted to sleep with me first.
The same broker that helped you get from North Korea to China.
No, the same broker transferred us to Chinese broker.
Okay.
And that person saying like I'm gonna sleep her and that was me.
How old were you at that time?
I was 13.
Yeah, so that was my introduction to sex, basically.
And after she was raped,
they told us that if you really wanna be in China,
remain in China that we had to be sold to Chinese men
like we were like slaves.
So I know I know for decades
China had the one-child policy
which led to lots of sex selective abortions
and extreme shortage of women.
So is this what it means for a young North Korean woman...
Yeah.
That's uh my mother was sold for around $65
and I was sold of for $20, I think over $20
because I was a virgin and young.
Wow.
So we had to be separated
they said they cannot send us together
because they had to pay two peoples price.
So they were just separating my mother and me
and two different men.
So how were North Korean refugees treated in China?
It's uh there is no word to describe, you know,
they are slaves, I mean.
most common thing the Chinese people told me was
even though I kill you right now
no one is gonna, like, send me to prison.
And they know even if he came, I cannot go to police.
I mean the police they're gonna send me back to North Korea
which I'm gonna get killed again.
So we are like with like doesn't worth like a dog.
We did not worth anything in China.
So basically you there there's no protection from the system
and people just fall through the cracks.
Yeah there is just people are taking advantage of vulnerability
Mm-hmm so how did you survive life in China?
So there's a man who bought me.
So it is a whole chain of human trafficking system.
So the broker who bought me in the border area
sold me to another broker.
That broker sold me to another broker.
And each time I was being sold,
my price goes up.
Goes up?
Yeah because they bought me for over $20
and they're gonna send me something like $500.
the next one like 600 or something like that.
Keep going making profit out of me
Yeah.
Selling me.
So the eventual broker that sold me
was that broke also sold my mother kind of,
Okay.
So, and then he I mean they will try to rape us.
I resisted until landing in the last broker
and he was trying to rape me again.
And I tried to kill myself
I said like I'm gonna kill myself
and he said, you know, if I become his mistress
that he was going to buy my mother back.
because he sold my mom.
Oh.
And he was also going to bring my father from North Korea to me.
So I did this.
become his mistress.
So that's how your family got reunion.
Yeah, so that's how he brought my sick father from North Korea to China
who eventually died from the cancer he got the prison camp.
And he bought my mom back from the farmer that his sold
That's an incredible price to pay for that.
Yeah.
In interacting with the people you were meeting in China
was there any sense that like this might be morally wrong?
Like how they were treating you?
Yeah like, did anyone have a problem with what was happening?
No they were enjoying entire process
It really made me like...
I'm like more afterward entire journey
obviously like I learned how to survive in certain circumstances.
But it also like made me to question a lot
like what it means for human being
and what it means to be a human right people
I don't know if you have read the book men searching for meaning
Holocaust survivor and other people who did or
like put the Holocaust was also human
And the whom were suffered were so human beings.
So unfortunately they did enjoy the entire thing and our vulnerability.
So what did you learn about being human from this experience?
I guess I don't know I think for an extent of it
but I think it's really helpful
I didn't lose my faith in humanity
when I was in China.
How?
Because, the first thing that I saw was my mother raped by a man.
Yeah.
And after that every man that I met was trying to rape me.
All they cared was raping us
How can I view them other than like worse than animals.
Yeah.
Right, it's but after that I met or seen incredible people
who you know showed me love
and even gave me this platform to speak about my experience
and who cares about what's happening in North Korea.
So I think life is never that black-and-white
Fortunately enough, I think.
I mean that that's absolutely incredible
like me living in New York,
if the subways are messed up
the world is a horrible dark place.
But you still find hope in all that?
No I think I think that's what I'm very great for that.
I get to have this perspective
if I wasn't born in North Korea,
I might not even you know know how grateful I am to be free.
So I think that's why you might probably say
there are two things that I'm most grateful for.
And one is that I was born North Korea.
Wow.
The second one is that I escaped
I'm very thankful that I was born in North Korea.
That's that that's not what I would imagine.
And so when you were in China
you are connected with a group of Christians right?
Like they're another very persecuted group inside of China.
Yes, what was that?
So there are missions from South Korea,
working with some Korean ethnic Chinese
for us to be rescued from them
was that had to believe in God
So I really was wondering like why I gotta believe something all the time to survive?
Like literally the scare dictator
and they say if you're gonna be saving,
you gotta believe in God and Jesus Christ.
I did I did become a believer,
and they taught us how to go to Mongolia.
They mean, not like rescues but they told us how to go there,
which means was that crossing a Gobi desert
Not an easy thing to do.
It's but that was the last option that we had.
Because for you China was actually worse
Worse than any any place in North Korea.
Yeah, I think living life without dignity,
I think I did not even had a concept of human rights or dignity.
[...] that's not how it's not just right to serve as human beings.
I knew that that's not something I deserve.
And I think I was right to kill myself,
to die that if I can live like a human beings.
So how did you go from North Korea to your ultimate destination.
So initially I escaped to China.
After two years of slavery, I cross to Mongolia.
In Mongolia,
I was rescued by South Korea government
and they took me to South Korea.
And that's that was my freedom moment.
And from South Korea to America was less traumatic
I came here to study and write a book.
So and then I am residing here.
And you ended up marrying one of those American
I know.
Do you ever think that would be possible?
No and not in my dreams.
It's very severe for us
there's a god that just happen you know.
And I think that's why it gotta be hopeful and life is miracle, you never know.
Life's a miracle.
Yeah.
So now you're living in the United States
what are you doing now - raise awareness about
the plight of North Koreans
either in North Korea or in China
because I don't think a lot of people know
what the China factor in this problem.
which is China is the most important factor
when it comes North Korea.
So I was fortunate enough to write a book
and what I'm grateful about the book is actually
it's translated to Taiwanese.
So it's being circulated in Hong Kong Taiwan Singapore
all of the regions that near China
Region/Country.
I know, yes regions of course they are country amazing countries.
And I am grateful somehow, maybe the people from mainland
go out and get to hear the story.
So I also hear from people in China that
they are very sorry what we are experiencing.
So I think that's also hopeful you know.
that we share the humanity.
Even though my China experience was that serious
And I still love Chinese people
I just don't like the regime,
the policy they have towards this disadvantaged people.
So I think my job is really letting the world know this
how China, Chinese regime is sponsoring this concentration camp
the biggest concentration camp that we can have as a humanity.
And also I you know I give a speeches,
I go to college campuses or students
anywhere that people want to hear
what's happening in North Korea and to people.
I just go anywhere.
One final question,
at the end of Titanic, don't you think there was room for both Jack and Rose on that door?
I wish I know I wish I was alive in that movie
but I don't know maybe yeah
It's just sad, I still want to [...] you know.
And my dream was like okay he's alive
Yeah they're the keys and they were fine.
Yeah.
Well thank you so much for joining us today.
it was wonderful hear your story.
Thank you so much.
And yeah I definitely feel like that
if you can go through that and find hope in life
then all of us should be able to.
Yeah I really appreciate you.
Thank you.
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