• 3 days ago
"We saw dead bodies lying in the streets. Neighbors, kids, people I knew. But no one called it 'starvation.'"

She escaped the North Korean famine, but she was caught and sent back. This is Jihyun Park's heartbreaking story.
Transcript
00:00My uncle died of starvation right in front of me.
00:04It was the moment I started to question everything.
00:20In 1998, I was promised a safe way out for me and my brother.
00:27My weak and starving father begged us to leave.
00:32And even though I knew it would be the last time I saw him, I agreed.
00:48When there wasn't enough to eat, the state had a simple explanation—American problems.
00:58We saw dead bodies lying in the street.
01:02Neighbors, kids, people I knew.
01:06But no one called it starvation.
01:10Just an illness.
01:13We didn't protest or blame the government because our whole lives we'd been trained not to.
01:22During this period, known as the Old East March, more than 3 million North Koreans starved to death.
01:38I'd been sex trafficked and sold to a Chinese man for 5,000 yuan.
01:44My brother was arrested and sent back to North Korea.
01:49I still don't know if he is dead or alive.
01:55For the next 6 years, I lived as a sex slave in Northeast China.
02:01It's as tragic as it is common.
02:0580% of North Korean women who escaped became victims of human trafficking.
02:11I gave birth to my son alone in my bedroom.
02:16And although it was scary, I finally had something.
02:22I was so desperately missing family.
02:37Today, I live in the UK with my husband and three children.
02:42There is a lot of interest in North Korean refugees, but we can't forget about those who are left behind.
02:50North Koreans deserve the right to live freely without the fear of torture and persecution in whichever country they choose to live in.

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