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What I learned about freedom after escaping North Korea

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    I was born in 1993
    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 and later copper
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    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
    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 if I go where 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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    instead of 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 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"
    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
    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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    We are told that he's starving for us,
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    and he's 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 that
    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 ultraluxurious 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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    (Laughter)
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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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    (Laughter)
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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 also 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 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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    (Applause)
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    And recently,
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    the leader of the 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
    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 don't have a voice,
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    as 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 that darkness.
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    They might not believe this,
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    but I want to tell them
    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 bought,
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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)
Title:
What I learned about freedom after escaping North Korea
Speaker:
Yeonmi Park
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
10:48

English subtitles

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