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Growing up in Hyesan, North Korea, it was normal for Park to see dead bodies as she walked to school, and to be so hungry that she ate wild plants. After watching a pirated copy of Titanic, the veil of tyranny began to fall. Having caught a glimpse of a free world, Park realized that her experience of life wasn’t the only one—and that she might one day find a way out.
In 2002, Park’s family suffered a crucial blow when her father was arrested and sent to prison camp for engaging in “illegal trading”—selling materials that no one would be punished for in a free society. In 2007, Park’s sister escaped with a friend before she and her mother followed her to China. But before they could locate her, Park and her mother were sold separately to Chinese human traffickers. In 2009, Park and her mother crossed the Gobi Desert to Mongolia from China in -40-degree weather, finding their freedom in South Korea. She recounts this incredible story in her searing memoir In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom, and in the insightful, moving talks based on her experiences.
An insightful and candid speaker, Park is fast becoming a leading voice of oppressed people around the world. The BBC named Park one of their “Top 100 Global Women.”
Park is also the author of While Time Remains: A North Korean Defectors’ Search for Freedom in America, which was published in February, 2023.
