Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector most recognized for her efforts to combat human trafficking. She became a Human Rights Officer because she did not want other people to go through what she experienced. Park claimed after graduating from Columbia University that American education reminded her of North Korean education.
Universities are oppressive
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Park told Fox News that she paid a large sum of money for her schooling at Columbia University. Yeonmi Park would learn to think and analyze, but it was the exact reverse because the school system only teaches an individual to think and believe what they perceive to be correct. She also compares the two countries as being identical.
“I anticipated to pay a fortune, as well as all of my time and energy, to learn how to think. However, they are compelling you to think in their preferred manner… Wow, this is nuts, I thought. I thought America was unique, but there were so many parallels to what I observed in North Korea that I became concerned…”
Furthermore, in an interview with the New York Post, Park stated that America is not free and that even people from the same country despise each other.
“I literally crossed the Gobi Desert to be free, and then I realized I’m not free, and neither is America… I thought North Koreans were the only ones who despised Americans, but it turns out that there are many people in this country who despise this country…”
Park also stated-
“These people are restricting and silencing each other on their own volition, with no force behind it…”
Similarly, Yeonmi Park claims that every problem that the university mentioned was whitewashed, which reminded the North Korean defector of her native country’s cast culture.
Her Social Activist Career and Net Worth
Yeonmi’s celebrity skyrocketed in 2014 following her address at the One Young World summit in Dublin, Ireland. Her letter described her escape from North Korea, the exploitation of traffickers, and her adaptation to a new life.
In September 2015, she published To Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom. Yeonmi also appeared in the film While They Were Watching (2015). The film depicts a future in which North Korea’s regime falls apart. It is evident that Yeonmi Park’s job is bringing about change, and the weight on her shoulders is greater than that of most 27-year-olds.
Yeonmi, who is currently working as a human rights officer, is not worried about increasing her net wealth and is focused on helping people.
Park has been interviewed by numerous media outlets, including The Guardian, The Washington Post, Fox News, The New York Post, and many more, for her outstanding work. She’s also had the chance to introduce herself and her message on the big TEDx platform.
Yeonmi Park’s Family Life: Husband And Children
While working for the oppressed people’s rights, Yeonmi made time for herself. On January 1, 2017, she married her spouse, Ezekiel. The following year, on March 18, 2018, they were blessed with a son. Yeonmi gave their first child the name James. Her son will be half North Korean and half American, as her husband is of the latter.
According to Wikipedia, she has divorced her husband, as evidenced by a video. However, there isn’t much evidence to back up this claim.
Her title in the Instagram video said, ‘North Korean defector single mother,’ which may have led some of her supporters to believe she had divorced her husband. However, the goal of the film was to request assistance for the North Korean defector’s single mother. Yeonmi currently resides in New York with her husband and son.
Aside from her husband’s name, little is known about Ezekiel. However, much discussion has centered on what he does for a livelihood (i.e., his job/occupation).
Yeonmi Park’s Parents, Age, and Difficulties
Yeonmi Park, 27, was born on October 4, 1993, in Hyesan, North Korea. Her father was a civil servant, while her mother was a North Korean Army nurse. She has an older sister named Eunmi.
Yeonmi’s father was imprisoned by the government in 2002, when she was just nine years old, for smuggling metals on the illicit market. Her mother was also repeatedly questioned by the government.
The daughters were left to fend for themselves when both of their parents died. Yeonmi and her sister had to “grow up extremely quickly,” in Yeonmi’s words.
Otto Warmbier, an American detained in North Korea, died at the age of 22 just a week after North Korea released him. Eunmi fled to China in 2007 to escape the tough atmosphere.
The rest of her family quickly followed. However, because their father died of colon cancer, only Yeonmi and her mother were able to flee to China. Meanwhile, when crossing the frozen Yalu River to China, Yeonmi and her mother were raped and sold into service by human traffickers.
After two years of torture, they were allowed to flee via Mongolia, where they eventually arrived safely in South Korea in 2009. As North Korean refugees, Yeonmi and her mother were granted South Korean citizenship.
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