Yeonmi Park burst onto the scene at the One Young World Summit in Dublin in 2014, when she recounted her life story and appealed for action on North Korean human rights in an emotional speech that went viral online. In the years since, Park has become arguably the world’s most famous North Korean defector, relocating from South Korea to the U.S. to write a memoir and starting a YouTube channel that now boasts 760,000 followers. She has also been no stranger to controversy, with critics alleging inaccuracies in her defection account and sensationalism in her remarks about the DPRK.
This week, Park joins the podcast for a wide-ranging discussion about her life and activism. She talks about experiences ranging from her childhood in the DPRK and defection in 2007, to her time in China and South Korea and new life in the U.S. She also addresses the need to fact-check claims about North Korea, her increasing political outspokenness and why she holds out hope that North Koreans’ situation will improve.
About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
Defector IssuesHuman Security / Human Rights