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During her speech, Park detailed her experience in North Korea, saying that she was brainwashed during her childhood. She says at the 1:45 mark, "North Korea [is] so desperately seeking and dying for freedom at this moment," speaking on behalf of the country she had to leave.
To demonstrate her point, she tells a story of North Korea's oppressive system, saying, "When I was nine-years-old, I saw my friend's mother publicly executed. Her crime? Watching a Hollywood movie," before bursting into tears.
Park continued to detail her escape from North Korea, which was also followed by unfortunate events. She said, "My father died in China after we escaped from North Korea, and I had to bury him at 3AM in secret." She explained, "I was 14-years-old. I couldn't even cry. I was afraid to be sent back to North Korea."
She further added, "The day I escaped from North Korea, I saw my mother [being] raped. The rapist was a Chinese broker. He targeted me; I was 13-years-old." Park explained that her mother allowed herself to be raped, so that the rapist would not touch her.
Park escaped from North Korea to China when she was only 13-years-old in 2007 and lost her father the year after. Despite her traumatizing experiences in witnessing her father's death and her mother's rape, she is currently a successful student attending Dongguk University. She does a podcast at her school titled 'Casey and Yeon Mi Show', able to move on with her life despite her past tragedies.
Watch the rest of her speech in the clip above as she speaks for her country and its desperate desire for freedom.
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