HANNIBAL – A woman who escaped North Korea’s oppressive regime notes alarming trends in the United States, which she now calls home.
Yeonmi Park has been in America since 2014, and she briefly shared her story of escape at Hannibal-LaGrange University.
“In North Korea, you are divided into three classes. The first class I compare to a tomato, red inside and out. It is a complete commitment to communism. The second is an apple, red outside and white inside. There is government surveillance. The third group is grapes, not red inside or out. These are a hostile class. The classes are divided into 51 (sub)classes.
“North Korea has achieved a socialist paradise. Growing up, Americans were my sworn enemy. Math questions were about Americans and how many more needed to be killed.
“One (current) neighbor wants climate change. I say go to North Korea. They murder cows. When I lived on the street, I stepped over bodies. There are three stages of death by starvation. The first stage is you beg for food. The second stage is you are completely lost and insane; you know no one. The third stage, they harvest your organs.
“In North Korea, there is no word for sympathy, for liberty, for love, for human rights. They control your language and thoughts. You can’t choose what to do with your life. They choose what you do, who you marry, where you live. You could go to prison camp if you wore jeans, as those are made in America.
“At the age of 13, my family sought freedom in China. We left March 26, 2007. Before that, my mom took me to a hospital. The nurse used one needle for several patients. They opened me for my appendix, but it was an infection. They took my appendix anyway,” Park said.
She said the Chinese don’t recognize North Korean refugees. There, she saw her mother raped.
There are three places North Korean women end up in China – organ harvesting and the bodies are discarded; brothels; and slavery with a fake husband.
“China had a one child policy and many girls were aborted, but boys were kept. Now, there are a lack of women to marry.
“I was sold as a slave for $200. My mom was sold for $65. After two years, when I was 15, I was rescued by South Korean missionaries, who shared the gospel and told about Jesus Christ.
“In 80 years, 209 of us North Koreans have escaped to America,” she said.
While she eventually became a naturalized American citizen, she is concerned about things in her adoptive country.
She became a student at Columbia University.
“They are teaching the exact things they taught in North Korea. People blame greed of white men and capitalism. America is becoming a mockery of the world because of our wokeness. If America falls, what is the plan? Only humans can fight for human life. Individuals are the smallest minority and that is going away. How could a country with so many amazing ideas not know what a woman is?
“They (at Columbia University) have 10,000 pronouns and are upset when people don’t know which pronoun to use.
In questions afterwards, her advice for Christian college students is to seek the truth and stand for truth.
She said North Koreans in South Korea are the highest group commit suicide because of a lack of acceptance
When asked how North Korea treats the elderly, she said her father died at age 46 and her grandmother at age 58, the latter of starvation, and she said people ‘don’t mourn. They lived a long life (compared to others).’
“There is no elder care, no minor care. North Koreans don’t die of cancer,” she said.
She said Chinese attacks Christian underground groups trying to rescue refugees.
“There are 300,000 North Korean young women who are sex slaves,” she said, adding she tried to talk to American politicians about what they were doing about it, with little success.
Many in the audience later posed for pictures with her and at least one couple took an opportunity to pray with her.
When asked if she felt threatened, she admitted she did feel threatened for a while, but now the threat she is concerned about is “the leftists.”
“Don’t take freedom for granted. It’s our responsibility to keep and protect freedom and protect our country,” Park said.