Yeonmi Park’s biography tells the story of a woman who, at just 13 years old, faced a test of extraordinary magnitude; I didn’t even know what it was.
Today, she is a successful professional living in the United States, but in 2007 her life was that of a North Korean woman who had no idea how the world worked outside her country’s borders.
- The first time he realized there was a different reality than he knew was when he saw the film Titanic.
- Watching films was banned by the North Korean regime.
- But that material circulates on the black market.
When Yeonmi Park saw the film, he discovered that love between couples existed and that it was possible to die for someone, not just the country.
“Even birds and rats can hear you whisper, you feel fear, submission, political and social indoctrination. Don’t think any differently, don’t express your opinion, don’t question anything. Obey, renounce your individuality. -Park Yeonmi”
Strange as it may seem, Yeonmi Park said there were no words to define this love in North Korea. There is none of the terms used in the individual, private or personal sphere. Everything is collective, everything is “we”.
So when he fled his homeland, he didn’t really know where he was going or why he had to run.
Yeonmi Park was born on October 4, 1993 in North Korea, his family was in a better financial position than the average resident, as his father was a member of the Korean Labour Party.
He held a position on the Board and was a respected person, everything began to change due to the economic crisis that the country experienced in the 1990s.
Raw materials began to run low and his father created and participated in a smuggling network in search of a better quality of life, however, as Korea is one of the most closed countries in the world, its activities have been detected by the authorities.
As a result, he was sent to a forced labor camp for some time. Yeonmi Park, her sister Eunmi and her mother were very hungry at the time.
Living in an area near the Border with China, Yeonmi Park saw the lights of china’s villages and thought that if he got there he could find food, when his father returned from punishment he suggested they flee to China. .
His sister, Eunmi, disappeared overnight and, although everyone thought she had escaped, no one was sure.
Yeonmi Park’s motivation to flee to China with her mother was simply to imagine a place where, perhaps, they could eat a plate of rice. They were not fleeing the regime, but from hunger.
His father was unable to accompany them because he was ill at the time, once they crossed the border they met people smugglers.
Those fleeing North Korea to China are deported by the authorities. The Chinese are aware of the situation and some have created a scandal around this tragedy. These are the types of people Yeonmi and his mother met across the border. tried to rape her, but her mother offered to exchange her and was raped in front of Yeonmi.
Subsequently, the two women were sold to two different farmers, Yeonmi attempted suicide when she was separated from her mother, however, the farmer who bought her said she would be made by her lover, who would help her find her family and, surprisingly, fulfilled her promise.
Over time, Yeonmi was able to find his mother and together they managed to take his father to China, which unfortunately had a very advanced cancer and died in a short time, at just 45 years old.
Not to draw attention, he wasn’t given any funerals, they just buried him on a nearby mountain. Later, the two women found the support of Chinese missionaries who helped them travel to Mongolia.
Again, they were in danger, but they threatened to kill themselves if they were deported to North Korea. Finally, they arrived in South Korea, through Yeonmi Park, it was as if they were on another planet.
She says that on the first day of school at her new school, the teacher asked her what her favorite color was and that she didn’t know how to respond, she had no idea what it was like to have an individual preference.
Yeonmi Park has become a human rights defender and is committed to fighting human trafficking, currently living in the United States, where she married and has a daughter, fortunately, her nightmare was left behind and she managed to find her sister in the south. Korea.
Needless to say, some Korean business experts have questioned the veracity of their history, but so far there is no evidence that it is false.
In any case, it is a story that shows how the society and culture around us directly influence us. Not knowing an individual preference, not knowing love, is characteristic of a submissive regime. Language frees us, but it can also stop us.
This biography of Yeonmi Park may or may not be true, and may be a bit of all, made up of memories that have been altered by emotions.