North Korean defector tells of life ‘purged from rest of the world’ under Kim Jong-Un rule
A NORTH Korean defector who made it to United States has opened up about what it was like growing up "completely purged from the rest of the world," under Kim Jong-Un rule.
In an interview with the New York Post this week, Yeonmi Park – a 26-year-old human rights activist who escaped North Korea in 2007 – has recounted her troubling past "eating insects" and seeing dead bodies in the street.
Park was also told they could read people's minds.
Faults in classmates were pointed out during "criticism sessions" at school, the idea of love and friendship didn't exist, electricity wasn't common, and people were starving.
Last year, a report by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea stated that approximately 10.9million people in North Korea - more than 43 percent of the population - are hungry, the UN said.
Back in July, Kim's amid .
Park told The Post that she needed to eat insects growing up and malnutrition was the norm for North Koreans - especially seeing "dead bodies in the street."
She explained: “I have visited slums in Mumbai, I have visited slums in other countries, but nothing is like North Korea because North Korean starvation, it’s a systematic starvation by a country that chose to starve us.
“North Korea spends billions of dollars to make this nuke test system. If they would spend just 20 percent of what they spent on making nuclear weapons, nobody would have to die in North Korea from hunger but the regime chose to make us hungry.”
Park wrote the book, which was published in 2016, along with her co-author Maryanne Vollers.
“I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea," Park stated in the prologue.
Meanwhile, Park uploaded a new video to her on Wednesday about the "Top 5 Shocking Differences Between America and North Korea."
She described the lack of food in North Korea and how people who are considered overweight are admired for their status and wealth.