9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was born in 1993

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the northern part of North Korea

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in a town called Hyesan,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which is on the border with China.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I had loving parents

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and one older sister.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Before I was even 10 years old,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
my father was sent to a labor camp

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for engaging in illegal trading.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, by illegal trading,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he was selling clocks, sugar, rice

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and later copper to feed us.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In 2007, my sister and I[br]decided to escape.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She was 16 years old

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I was 13 years old.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I need you to understand

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what the word "escape" means

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the context of North Korea.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We were all starving,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and hunger means death in North Korea.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So it was the only option for us.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I didn't even understand[br]the concept of escape,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but I could see the lights[br]from China at night,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I wondered,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if I would go somewhere the light is,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I might be able to find a bowl of rice.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's not like we had a grand plan or maps.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We did not know anything[br]about what was going to happen.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Imagine your apartment[br]building caught fire.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I mean, what would you do?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Would you stay there to be burned,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or would you jump off out of the window

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and see what happens?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's what we did.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We jumped out of the house

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
inside the fire.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
North Korea is unimaginable.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's very hard for me

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when people ask me[br]what it feels like to live there.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To be honest,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I tell you,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you can't even imagine it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The words in any language

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can't describe,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because it's a totally different planet,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as you cannot imagine[br]your life on Mars right now.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For example, the word "love"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
has only one meaning:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
love for the Dear Leader.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's no concept[br]of romantic love in North Korea,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and if you don't know the words,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that means you don't[br]understand the concept,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and therefore, you don't even realize[br]that concept is even a possibility.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Let me give you another example.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Growing up in North Korea,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we truly believed that our Dear Leader

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is an almighty god

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who can even read my thoughts.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was even afraid to think in North Korea.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And we had heard that he[br]was starving for us

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he was working tirelessly for us,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and my heart just broke for him.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When I escaped to South Korea,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
people told me there

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he was actually a dictator,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he had cars,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
many many resorts,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he had an ultra-luxurious life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then I remember[br]looking at a picture of him,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
realizing for the first time

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that he is the largest guy in the picture.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And it hit me.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Finally, I realized he wasn't starving.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But I was never able to see that before,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
until someone told me that he was fat.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Really, someone had to teach me[br]that he was fat.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If you have never[br]practiced critical thinking,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
then you simply see[br]what you're told to see.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Biggest question people ask me

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is why there is no revolution[br]inside North Korea?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Are we dumb?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Why is there no revolution[br]for 70 years of this oppression?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I say,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if you don't know you're a slave,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if you don't know you're isolated

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or oppressed,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
how do you fight to be free?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I mean, if you know you're isolated,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that means you are not isolated.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Not knowing is the true[br]definition of isolation,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that's why I never knew

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was isolated when I was in North Korea.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I literally thought I was[br]in the center of the universe.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So here is my idea worth spreading:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a lot of people think

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
humans inherently know[br]what is right and wrong,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the difference between[br]justice and injustice,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what we deserve and we don't deserve.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I tell them, BS.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Laughter)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Applause)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Everything,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
everything must be taught,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
including compassion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If I see someone dying[br]on the street right now,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I will do anything to save that person,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but when I was in North Korea,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I saw people dying[br]and dead on the streets.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I felt nothing,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not because I'm a psychopath,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but because I never learned[br]the concept of compassion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Only, I felt compassion,[br]empathy and sympathy in my heart.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
After I learned the word[br]"compassion" and the concept,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I feel them now.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, I live in the United States[br]as a free person.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Applause)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Thank you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And recently,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the leader of our free country,[br]our President Trump,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
met with my former god,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he decided human rights[br]is not important enough

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to include in his agendas,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he did not talk about it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And it scares me.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We live in a world right now

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where a dictator can be praised

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for executing his uncle,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for killing his half-brother,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
killing thousands of North Koreans,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that was worthy of praise.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And also it made me think:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
perhaps we all need to be taught[br]something new about freedom now.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Freedom is fragile.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I don't want to alarm you, but it is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It only took three generations

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to make North Korea into[br]George Orwell's "1984."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It took only three generations.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If we don't fight for human rights,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for the people who are oppressed[br]right now who doesn't have a voice,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as a free people here,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who will fight for us[br]when we are not free?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Machines? Animals? I don't know.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think it's wonderful[br]that we care about climate change,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
animal rights, gender equality,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
all of these things.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The fact that we care[br]about animals rights,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that means that's[br]how beautiful our heart is,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that we care about someone[br]who cannot speak for themselves.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And North Koreans right now[br]cannot speak for themselves.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They don't have internet[br]in the 21st century.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We don't have electricity,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it is the darkest place[br]on Earth right now.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now I want to say something[br]to my fellow North Koreans

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who are living in the darkness.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They might not believe this,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but I want to tell them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that an alternative life is possible.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Be free.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
From my experience,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
literally anything is possible.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was ??

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was sold as a slave.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But now I'm here,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that is why I believe in miracles.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The one thing that I learned from history

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is that nothing is forever in this world,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that is why we have[br]every reason to be hopeful.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Thank you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Applause)