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In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom

black and white typewriter on white table
Photo by Markus Winkler. The BFD


Michael Flinn

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom

By Yeonmi Park and Maryanne Vollers


Have you ever wondered what is it like to grow up in the Hermit Kingdom of North Korea?

Well here is your opportunity to find out.

I have nothing but the deepest admiration for this amazing, courageous young lady. I have a daughter who is around Yeonmi’s age, and when I read what she had been through in order to gain freedom, there were times when I felt sick in my gut.

She describes at the end of the book how she plucked up the courage to address an audience in Dublin and tell her story:

“The audience was already on its feet, and I could see that everybody in the room was crying with me as I struggled to steady myself.”

After reading Yeonmi’s book, I felt like I was in the room with her, tears streaming down my face. What an amazing heroine she is, and what a message she has for the so-called free West. If we do not value those freedoms that we take for granted…

Listen to Yeonmi:

“North Korea is an unimaginable country…” I began. I told the people in the room that in North Korea you could be executed for making an illegal international phone call. I told them, how when I was a child, my mother told me not to whisper because even the birds and mice could hear me…”

I’ll leave you to discover the rest of her story for yourself.

P.S. If you don’t have time to read the book, Jordan Peterson has an interview with Yeonmi. You can find it on Youtube.

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