North Korea has never been known for its respect for human rights. A complete dictatorship with an oppresive regime and extreme isolationist tendencies, it typically doesn’t even register on most people’s radars. Its a black whole of human rights. Back in October of this year though Yeonmi Park spoke at the One Young World Summit in Dublin. This video is of her amazing and heart-wrenching speech where she spoke about what it was like for her to live in North Korea before she escaped when she was 13 years old. She speaks about the total control the government has over what its citizens do, see, hear and even think. She also speaks about the unbelievably strict punishments for the simplest of “misbehavior” where watching a movie means death and a wrong thought means three generations of your family go to jail. A strong young woman, Park uses her speech as a call to action for people to help those who are escaping North Korea. These people have faced enough as is in North Korea without the horrible mistreatment they face as they seek refuge in other countries. While the global community can do little about the workings within North Korea other than war, which the rest of the world would like avoid with North Korea.
An organization that helps North Koreans escape to a safe country and become resettled is Liberty in North Korea which helps North Koreans escape free of charge and will help them adjust to a new life outside of the control of the dictator.
Our Rights We Will Maintain 