Yeonmi Park on Why Doing Business With North Korea Is Like Buying a Ticket to a Concentration Camp - Ep.149

Dec 10, 2019

Yeonmi Park, a North Korean defector and renowned human rights activist, shares her gripping journey from oppression to freedom. She reveals her childhood indoctrination in North Korea and how watching 'Titanic' sparked her understanding of love. Her escape to China was fraught with danger, pushing her to confront the brutal realities of both regimes. Park emphasizes the importance of sharing external information with North Koreans and critiques tourism that fuels the oppressive government. Her insights shed light on the complexities of freedom and resistance.

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ANECDOTE

Portrait Crime

In North Korea, damaging a portrait of the Kims is a severe crime.
Three generations of the offender's family face punishment in concentration camps.

insights

INSIGHT

Kim as a God

The Kim regime in North Korea operates like a religion, demanding absolute loyalty and reverence.
This cult-like structure reinforces the belief in Kim's power and ability to read thoughts.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

The Fat 'Dear Leader'

Yeonmi Park was taught that Kim Jong-il starved for the North Korean people.
After escaping, she learned he was overweight, highlighting the regime's deceptive propaganda.

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Survival Under Oppression: Life in North Korea

03:46 • 5min

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Indoctrination and Oppression in North Korea

08:45 • 12min

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A Journey from Oppression to Freedom

20:47 • 12min

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The Importance of Information in Human Rights Advocacy

32:50 • 2min

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Navigating Freedom and Oppression: A North Korean Perspective

35:19 • 15min

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The Dark Side of North Korean Tourism and Cryptocurrency

50:26 • 23min

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A Journey of Hope and Resilience

Published in 1949, '1984' is a cautionary tale by George Orwell that explores the dangers of totalitarianism. The novel is set in a dystopian future where the world is divided into three super-states, with the protagonist Winston Smith living in Oceania, ruled by the mysterious and omnipotent leader Big Brother. Winston works at the Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites historical records to conform to the Party's ever-changing narrative. He begins an illicit love affair with Julia and starts to rebel against the Party, but they are eventually caught and subjected to brutal torture and indoctrination. The novel highlights themes of government surveillance, manipulation of language and history, and the suppression of individual freedom and independent thought.

Animal Farm

George Orwell

Published in 1945, 'Animal Farm' is a novella that allegorically represents the Russian Revolution and the subsequent rise of Stalinism. The story begins with Old Major, a boar, inspiring the animals of Manor Farm to rebel against their human oppressor, Mr. Jones. After the rebellion, the animals rename the farm 'Animal Farm' and establish a utopian society based on the principles of equality and solidarity, known as Animalism. However, as time passes, the pigs, led by Napoleon and Snowball, consolidate power and gradually corrupt the original ideals, leading to a dystopian regime that mirrors the oppressive human rule they initially rebelled against. The novel critiques totalitarianism and the corrupting nature of power, reflecting Orwell's experiences and views on the Soviet Union under Stalin's rule.

In order to live

A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom

Yeonmi Park

In this memoir, Yeonmi Park recounts her struggle to survive in North Korea under the oppressive rule of Kim Jong-il. She describes her escape to China at the age of 13, where she and her mother faced severe hardships, including human trafficking. The book details their perilous journey across the Gobi Desert to Mongolia and eventually to South Korea, highlighting the challenges of adjusting to a new life and overcoming years of indoctrination. Park's story is a testament to her resilience and her emergence as a leading human rights activist before her 21st birthday.

In light of the questions around whether or not Virgil Griffith's talk at a blockchain conference in Pyongyang could have helped everyday North Koreans, Yeonmi Park, a North Korean defector, human rights activist, board member of the Human Rights Foundation and author of “In Order to Live, A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom,” talks to Unchained. She tells us about her life growing up in North Korea, how she thought the "dear leader" could read her thoughts, why freedom of thought is not allowed in North Korea, and how a South Korean had to teach her that Kim Jong Il was fat and not starving for the North Koreans, as she had been taught. She talks about what happened after her father was sent to a prison camp for selling copper, silver and nickel, how three generations of her family were then tainted and put in the "hostile" class of the caste system, and how watching the movie Titanic introduced her to the concept of romantic love. She tells the story of how, because of hunger, she fled to China — right into the hands of human traffickers, but decided to stay because of what trash cans in China signified to her, and describes the first time she heard the word "free." She also covers the difficulty of her transition to freedom and how reading George Orwell's Animal Farm was a turning point for her.

We discuss why the strategy for liberating North Korea is mostly about getting outside information in, who benefits from tours to North Korea and why lifting sanctions would only help the regime. She also explains why the only people who would have benefited from Griffith's talk would have been North Korean elite, and how any actions in line with what the dictator wants help him maintain power. She says the best ways to improve the situation in North Korea are to boost awareness of what is happening, empower the people there by getting outside information in and helping during the rescue, as 300,000 defectors, most of them women and girls living as sexual slaves, are hiding in China.

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Episode links:

Yeonmi Park: https://yeonmi.com/

Yeonmi Park on Twitter: https://twitter.com/YeonmiParkNK

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialYeonmiPark/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yeonmi_park/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpQu57KgT7gOoLCAu3FFQsA

Human Rights Foundation: https://hrf.org/

In Order to Live: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/318940/in-order-to-live-by-yeonmi-park-with-maryanne-vollers/

One of the first speeches by Yeonmi that went viral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei-gGvLWOZI

Yeonmi's TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/yeonmi_park_what_i_learned_about_freedom_after_escaping_north_korea

New York Times video op-ed with Yeonmi's message for President Trump: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/opinion/north-korea-trump-kim-human-rights.html

DOJ complaint against Virgil Griffith: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-arrest-united-states-citizen-assisting-north-korea

Economist video on the efforts to get outside information into North Korea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVRQpfXGQyc&app=desktop

Guardian article on North Korean defector activist groups attempting to get outside information into North Korea: https://amp.theguardian.com/global/2016/aug/27/north-korea-defectors-ian-birrell

Wired article on getting outside information in: https://www.wired.com/2015/03/north-korea/

The story of Otto Warmbier: https://www.gq.com/story/otto-warmbier-north-korea-american-hostage-true-story

South Korean woman shot for crossing line at a resort in North Korea: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/12/korea

Unchained interview with Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation: https://unchainedpodcast.com/alex-gladstein-of-the-human-rights-foundation-on-the-3-reasons-bitcoin-matters/

Unconfirmed interview with Alex Gladstein: https://unchainedpodcast.com/alex-gladstein-of-the-human-rights-foundation-on-the-first-crypto-war-ep-021/

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