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I was born in 1993

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in the northern part of North Korea

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in a town called Hyesan,

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which is on the border with China.

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I had loving parents

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and one older sister.

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Before I was even 10 years old,

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my father was sent to a labor camp

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for engaging in illegal trading.

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Now, by illegal trading,

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he was selling clocks, sugar, rice

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and later copper to feed us.

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In 2007, my sister and I
decided to escape.

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She was 16 years old

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and I was 13 years old.

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I need you to understand

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what the word "escape" means

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in the context of North Korea.

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We were all starving,

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and hunger means death in North Korea.

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So it was the only option for us.

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I didn't even understand
the concept of escape,

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but I could see the lights
from China at night,

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and I wondered,

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if I would go somewhere the light is,

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I might be able to find a bowl of rice.

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It's not like we had a grand plan or maps.

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We did not know anything
about what was going to happen.

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Imagine your apartment
building caught fire.

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I mean, what would you do?

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Would you stay there to be burned,

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or would you jump off out of the window

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and see what happens?

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That's what we did.

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We jumped out of the house

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inside the fire.

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North Korea is unimaginable.

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It's very hard for me

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when people ask me
what it feels like to live there.

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To be honest,

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I tell you,

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you can't even imagine it.

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The words in any language

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can't describe,

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because it's a totally different planet,

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as you cannot imagine
your life on Mars right now.

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For example, the word "love"

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has only one meaning:

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love for the Dear Leader.

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There's no concept
of romantic love in North Korea,

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and if you don't know the words,

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that means you don't
understand the concept,

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and therefore, you don't even realize
that concept is even a possibility.

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Let me give you another example.

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Growing up in North Korea,

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we truly believed that our Dear Leader

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is an almighty god

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who can even read my thoughts.

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I was even afraid to think in North Korea.

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And we had heard that he
was starving for us

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and he was working tirelessly for us,

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and my heart just broke for him.

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When I escaped to South Korea,

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people told me there

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he was actually a dictator,

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he had cars,

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many many resorts,

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and he had an ultra-luxurious life.

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And then I remember
looking at a picture of him,

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realizing for the first time

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that he is the largest guy in the picture.

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And it hit me.

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Finally, I realized he wasn't starving.

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But I was never able to see that before,

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until someone told me that he was fat.

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Really, someone had to teach me
that he was fat.

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If you have never
practiced critical thinking,

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then you simply see
what you're told to see.

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Biggest question people ask me

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is why there is no revolution
inside North Korea?

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Are we dumb?

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Why is there no revolution
for 70 years of this oppression?

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And I say,

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if you don't know you're a slave,

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if you don't know you're isolated

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or oppressed,

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how do you fight to be free?

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I mean, if you know you're isolated,

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that means you are not isolated.

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Not knowing is the true
definition of isolation,

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and that's why I never knew

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I was isolated when I was in North Korea.

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I literally thought I was
in the center of the universe.

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So here is my idea worth spreading:

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a lot of people think

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humans inherently know
what is right and wrong,

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the difference between
justice and injustice,

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what we deserve and we don't deserve.

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I tell them, BS.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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Everything,

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everything must be taught,

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including compassion.

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If I see someone dying
on the street right now,

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I will do anything to save that person,

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but when I was in North Korea,

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I saw people dying
and dead on the streets.

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I felt nothing,

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not because I'm a psychopath,

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but because I never learned
the concept of compassion.

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Only, I felt compassion,
empathy and sympathy in my heart.

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After I learned the word
"compassion" and the concept,

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and I feel them now.

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Now, I live in the United States
as a free person.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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And recently,

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the leader of our free country,
our President Trump,

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met with my former god,

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and he decided human rights
is not important enough

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to include in his agendas,

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and he did not talk about it.

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And it scares me.

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We live in a world right now

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where a dictator can be praised

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for executing his uncle,

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for killing his half-brother,

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killing thousands of North Koreans,

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and that was worthy of praise.

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And also it made me think:

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perhaps we all need to be taught
something new about freedom now.

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Freedom is fragile.

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I don't want to alarm you, but it is.

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It only took three generations

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to make North Korea into
George Orwell's "1984."

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It took only three generations.

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If we don't fight for human rights,

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for the people who are oppressed
right now who doesn't have a voice,

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as a free people here,

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who will fight for us
when we are not free?

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Machines? Animals? I don't know.

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I think it's wonderful
that we care about climate change,

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animal rights, gender equality,

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all of these things.

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The fact that we care
about animals rights,

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that means that's
how beautiful our heart is,

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that we care about someone
who cannot speak for themselves.

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And North Koreans right now
cannot speak for themselves.

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They don't have internet
in the 21st century.

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We don't have electricity,

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and it is the darkest place
on Earth right now.

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Now I want to say something
to my fellow North Koreans

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who are living in the darkness.

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They might not believe this,

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but I want to tell them

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that an alternative life is possible.

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Be free.

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From my experience,

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literally anything is possible.

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I was ??

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I was sold as a slave.

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But now I'm here,

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and that is why I believe in miracles.

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The one thing that I learned from history

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is that nothing is forever in this world,

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and that is why we have
every reason to be hopeful.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)