100 Quotes by Park Yeon-mi

Kim Il Sung prepared Kim Jong Il for decades to be his successor and made it very clear from the beginning, 'This is my son and he's going to lead the country' and that took more than 10 years - almost 20 years.

Freedom meant for me to wear earrings, not freedom of speech.

Before Kim Jong Il died, it wasn't like one day Kim Jong Un took over. Kim Jong Il made sure his son was known to the North Korean people and it was clear that he was the next heir. He prepared him for at least three years beforehand.

I think my father would have become a millionaire if he had grown up in South Korea or the United States... Almost anywhere else, business would have been my father's vocation. But in North Korea, it was simply a means to survive.

North Korea was pretty insane. Like the first thing my mom taught me was don't even whisper, the birds and mice could hear me. She told me the most dangerous thing that I had in my body was my tongue.

North Korea is a very Confucius country. We respect the elders, the hierarchy. It's not like America where anyone can step up and do things, we have our tradition.

I was able to see the lights coming from China. If maybe I could go where the lights are I could find something to eat, that's why I escaped.

North Korea cannot change because its people don't realize that there is an alternative to their suffering.

I'm extremely grateful I was born in North Korea. If that didn't happen, there's no way I could understand other people's pain.