The lives of North Korean women. | Eunhee Park | TEDxDongdaemunWomen

hello ladies gentlemen my name is Anita today I would like to talk about the lives of North Korean women people often say to me you always look so happy and positive you must have grown up in a very good environment in North Korea they assume that I was born happy and positive this would be a mistake kandi once said behind the happiness there is a sorrow behind the sorrow there is a happiness the weight of welcome is not to get rid of them but get over them and to become free from obsession as a young woman it took a tremendous amount of effort and determination to choose to look at the bright side of life it is this effort and determination that has brought me here before you when the media talks about North Korea the focus is on Kim jong-un nuclear weapons poverty and starvation let's not forget about the lives of ordinary North Korean people especially women who strive to pursue their own happiness in a broken country I was born in 1991 in Ansan on the east coast of North Korea near South Korean border it is also the birthplace of Kim jong-un who appears in the media like a famous pig you could say he is a North Korea's most iconic animal as a child whenever I saw people who have big eyes big noses I thought they were all American bastards I was taught that Americans were our worst enemy who had brutally massacred our people but it turns out that the world is really diverse and full of beauty where I came from the forests were American bastard but here in South Korea say investors volunteer to teach English to North Korean refugees what a beautiful waltz growing up I had a bigger dreams about freedom secretly I had to watch the many South Korean dramas and American movies I wanted to have a long hair or even my dye my hair to different color I wanted to wear earrings and wear hot pants in the summer I wanted to walk around the streets freely like other girls I saw in the South Korean dramas but the freedom that I wanted as a young girl was only possible in a train in North Korea we are in earrings and Mary happens it was so completely forbidden in North Korea and even hairstyles a matter of strict state policy many times I was forced to stand in the police station without any food or water for several hours as punishment for violating the policy it wasn't until I got older that I began to understand the true nature of North Korea Jean and its oppression of North Korean people especially women an estimated of 3 million people starving to death in North Korea in the 90s during Dargis march north korean mothers having experienced such atrocity launched they could not rely on the government in order to survive they created the Chang matang a capitalist marketplace they put food on the table when their husband walked a state to run factories without any compensation even though the North Korean regime saw the sacrifices being made by these MA they the regime's tear deprived these women of their rights even today the regime's control is so complete as to regulate what you wear and how your hair looks with these regulations the regime's cement their authority and controls everyone's lives especially the lives of women who were countless hours in the marketplace to support their families these these regulations create an environment where women are subjected subjected to sexual violence it is normal for state officers to demand sex from women in order in exchange for better and safer work assignments I long for the day when the me to movement will sweep across the North Korea this injustice is just one of the pains that North Korean women must endure to survive in the harsh reality of North Korea Jean with the extra-ordinary inner strength these women have become the backbone of the North can society even though these mothers have desired beauty like all of women in the world they choose to accept pains of living under the brutal dictatorship in order to serve support their families these women the know true meaning of get over it as a child I thought of myself as an orphan born Jean unfortunate fate even though I had a parents when I was five years old my parents got divorced after the divorce my father remarried and start another family while my mother mentally unstable and physically abusive I got scared of my mother and her physical abuse eventually she was sent mental hospital and I moved in with my grandparents living with my grandparents wasn't easy they faded me back and forth from my parent's home causing me to change schools often with the frequency my moves I really had a chance to build personal bonds with anyone my grandfather wrote a poem for me saying my father leaves it here my mother lives there where do I live now in North Korea they say children who grow up without parents don't have manners and crazy parents result in crazy children something like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree out of fear of being ridiculed whenever my friends ask me about my friends I said that they had a diet I said this because I didn't want to be defined by my parents divorce or my mother's mental condition unlike what society expected I did not become an you mannered or crazy person I refused to accept a negative characterization made it worse by living under the protected terrorism instead I chose freedom freedom to become my own person freedom to choose and define my own future but most importantly the realization that searching for the better future was not to change my past but to live my life in my own terms in 2012 I escaped North Korea to find the freedom I chose to define my own future instead of letting life in North Korea to find me or escaping wasn't easy it took four years preparation before I cross the North Korean border into China the out of year being cut didn't subside once in China I was even sexually assaulted on a bus but couldn't say anything out of fear of being discovered as a North Korean refugee about a week later I cross the Chinese border into Laos with other North Korean refugees by hiking over a mountain for seven hours from Laos the smugglers brought us to cross the Mekong River into Thailand many hungry crocodiles were just one of our many worries in Thailand we are free and told to turn ourselves in to any police stations for 50 days I said in in Thai police jail waiting for refugee status to come through before being put on a flight to South Korea but life in South Korea came with its own challenges it wasn't all fun and games the resettlement in South Korea and the associated economic hardship was very difficult for a lone female refugee without family support but what was even more difficult was the thing how North Korean people were being defined and characterized by South Korean media currently there are 25 million people living in North Korea and 32,000 have escaped to South Korea and according to the South Korean Ministry of unification about 72 percent of them women the media seems to focus mainly on negative issues related to North Korea such as kim jongmin dictatorship and hunger while I understand that negative issues make for great ratings they also deprived North Korean people of being depicted as individuals not merely uniform body being governed by a protal dictatorship with TVC comes like a nom nom 1000 show about a fictional marries North Korean women between North Korean women and South Korean men the producers portray the North Korea man as a young and beautiful and submissive wife this ignores the true beauty and strength of North Korean women in reality South Korean men who marry North Korean defectors reported being disappointed when their wives do not meet the submissive stereotype these creates conflicts in my opinion the media can feature both Kerry men in more diverse ways as a woman as a North Korean refugee I can say that I never thought I was deprived simply because I was born in a poor country nor am i pure or submissive North Korea is more than just kim jongmin dictatorship and hunger the moaning of their ultimate courage many North Korean women overcame extraordinary challenges to escape North Korea they risked their lives to find freedom and define their own futures we can all start today by acknowledging the strength and character of North Korean women like these women we can all choose to look beyond the despair and into the bright offside side this would much this would create much better world for everyone thank you [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 49,541

Rating: 4.9591837 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Humanities, Education reform, Human origins, Life Development, Passion, Women's Rights

Id: ps4Iy8VBxYc

Length: 13min 42sec (822 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 04 2019