Global InformationYeonmi Park information
Yeonmi Park | |
|---|---|
 Park in 2023 | |
| Born | 4 October 1993 Hyesan, Ryanggang Province, North Korea |
| Citizenship | United States (naturalized) North Korea (formerly) |
| Education | Columbia University[1] (BA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Movement | Conservatism |
| Spouse |
Ezekiel
(m. 2017; div. 2020) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Eun-mi (sister) |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 박연미 |
| Hanja | 朴研美 |
| Revised Romanization | Bak Yeon(-)mi |
| McCune–Reischauer | Pak Yŏnmi |
YouTube information | |
| Channel |
|
| Years active | 2017 – present |
| Subscribers | 1.14 million[2] |
| Total views | 118 million[2] |
Last updated: 8 March 2024 | |
| Signature | |
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Yeonmi Park (Korean: 박연미; born 4 October 1993) is a North Korean defector, YouTuber, author, and American conservative activist, described as "one of the most famous North Korean defectors in the world".[3] She fled from North Korea to China in 2007 at age 13 before moving to South Korea, then to the United States. Park made her media debut in 2011 on the show Now On My Way to Meet You, where she was dubbed "Paris Hilton" due to her stories of her family's wealthy lifestyle.[3][4] She came to wider global attention after her speech at the 2014 One Young World Summit in Dublin, Ireland.[5][6] Park's memoir, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom, was published in 2015,[7] and as of 2023 has sold over 100,000 copies.[3] During the 2020s, she became a voice for American conservatism with speeches, podcasts and the 2023 publication of her second book, While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America.[3]
The authenticity of Park's claims about life in North Korea – many of which have contradicted her earlier stories and those of both her mother and fellow defectors from North Korea – have been the subject of widespread skepticism. Political commentators, journalists and professors of Korean studies have criticized Park's accounts of life in North Korea for inconsistencies,[8][9][10] contradictory claims, and exaggerations.[11][12][1] Other North Korean defectors, including those from the same city as Park, have expressed concern that the tendency for "celebrity defectors" to exaggerate about life in North Korea will produce skepticism about their stories.[13][14] In 2014, The Diplomat published an investigation by journalist Mary Ann Jolley, who had previously worked with Park, documenting numerous inconsistencies in Park's memories and descriptions of life in Korea.[13] In July 2023, a Washington Post investigation found there was little truth to Park's claims about life in North Korea.[3] Park attributed the discrepancies to her imperfect memory and language skills,[3][13] and her autobiography's coauthor, Maryanne Vollers, said Park was the victim of a North Korean smear campaign.[15]
Park runs the YouTube channel "Voice of North Korea by Yeonmi Park",[16] which as of July 2023 has over one million subscribers.[3] Her political views have been called "American conservative",[3] and she has criticized the concepts of political correctness and woke culture in the U.S.,[3] drawing parallels between political correctness in the U.S. and North Korea.[3][17]
- ^ a b Homans, Charles (22 June 2023). "A North Korean Dissident Defects to the American Right". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
Shortly after graduating in 2020, Park was assaulted and robbed of her wallet while out walking with her son in Chicago. As she used her cellphone to record her assailant, a Black woman, she said another woman shouted at her for doing so and called her a racist. (The assailant was later arrested and pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint, according to court records.)
- ^ a b "About Voice of North Korea by Yeonmi Park". YouTube.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sommer, Will (16 July 2023). "A North Korean defector captivated U.S. media. Some question her story". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Gupta, Priyanka. "Escaping North Korea: one refugee's story". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ^ Abrams, A.B. (2023). Atrocity Fabrication and its Consequences. Atlanta, United States: Clarity Press. p. 314. ISBN 978-1-949762-70-9.
- ^ Park, Yeonmi; Vollers, Maryanne (29 September 2015). In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-0-698-40936-1. OCLC 921419691.
- ^ Power, John (21 January 2015). "Celebrated Korean gulag defector changes story. Does that change the truth?". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
- ^ Miller, Barbara (4 September 2017). "North Korean defector stories find home in the South on reality TV show". ABC News.
- ^ Shuttleworth, Catherine (17 May 2023). "Who is Yeonmi Park? The North Korean defector who thinks America is 'woke'". www.indy100.com. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
- ^ "When North Koreans Go South, Some Go Professional". 38 North. 25 June 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
- ^ Power, John (29 October 2014). "North Korea: Defectors and Their Skeptics". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ a b c Jolley, Mary Ann (10 December 2014). "The Strange Tale of Yeonmi Park". The Diplomat. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Murray2017was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Vollers, Maryanne (15 March 2015). "The woman who faces the wrath of North Korea". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ^ "Voice of North Korea by Yeonmi Park – YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ Collman, Ashley (15 June 2021). "A North Korean defector says going to Columbia University reminded her of the oppressive regime, saying she felt forced to 'think the way they want you to think'". Yahoo News. Retrieved 7 August 2021.