The speaker, who was born in North Korea, recounts their experiences growing up in a country where freedom and basic human rights are severely restricted. They describe a society where the concept of escape is not just about leaving the country, but about surviving in a place where hunger is a constant threat. The speaker's father was sent to a labor camp for illegal trading, and the family was struggling to survive.
The speaker and their older sister decided to escape when they were 13 and 16 years old, respectively. They had no plan or knowledge of what would happen next, but they jumped out of their burning house, symbolizing their desperation to escape. The speaker describes North Korea as a place where words like "love" and "freedom" have different meanings, and critical thinking is not encouraged.
The speaker escaped to South Korea and was shocked to learn that the leader they had been taught to worship was not a god, but a dictator. They also learned that the leader was not starving, contrary to what they had been told. This realization led them to question the oppressive regime they had lived under.
The speaker now lives in the United States and is concerned about the current political climate, particularly the lack of focus on human rights. They believe that freedom is fragile and that it can be lost in just a few generations. They urge their audience to fight for human rights and to remember that freedom is possible.
1. The speaker was born in 1993 in the northern part of North Korea, in a town called Hazen, which is on the border with China [Document(page_content="00:00:00.03: I was four in 1993 in the northern part\n00:00:17.10: of North Korea in a town called Hazen\n00:00:20.52: which is on the border with China\n00:00:23.40: I had loving parents and one older\n00:00:28.68: sister ah before I was even ten years\n00:00:32.97: old my father was sent to labor camp for\n00:00:37.22: engaging in illegal trading now delivery\n00:00:42.96: trading he was selling clocks sugar rice\n00:00:49.02: and later copper to feed us in 2007 my\n00:00:57.51: sister and I decided to escape she was\n00:01:02.25: 16 years old and I was 13 years old\n00:01:06.87: oh I need you to understand what the\n00:01:11.91: word escape means in the context of\n00:01:15.15: North Korea we are starving and hunger\n00:01:20.78: means death in North Korea so it was the\n00:01:26.34: only option for us I didn't even\n00:01:30.24: understand the concept of escape but I\n00:01:34.02: crystallized from China and night and I\n00:01:38.73: wondered if I goes where the light is I\n00:01:42.68: might be able to find a bowl of rice\n00:01:47.84: it's not like we had a grand plan or\n00:01:51.03: maps we did not know anything about\n00:01:53.97: what's going to happen\n00:01:56.60: imagine your apartment building caught\n00:01:59.07: fire\n00:01:59.43: I mean what would you do would you stay\n00:02:03.45: there to be burned or would you jump off\n00:02:06.45: out of the window and see what happens\n00:02:09.08: that's what we did we jumped\n00:02:12.80: the house inside the fire North Korea is\n00:02:20.41: unimaginable it's very hard for me when\n00:02:25.43: people ask me what it feels like to live\n00:02:28.49: there to be honest I tell you you can't\n00:02:34.46: even imagine it the words in any\n00:02:40.61: language can't describe because it's a\n00:02:44.54: totally different planet as you cannot\n00:02:48.38: imagine your life on Mars Rana for\n00:02:53.33: example the word love has only one\n00:02:57.53: meaning love for the Dear Leader there's\n00:03:03.71: no concept of romantic love in North\n00:03:06.71: Korea and if you don't know the words\n00:03:11.51: that means you don't understand the\n00:03:14.72: concept and therefore you don't even\n00:03