In her memoir, Jihyun Park recounts a harrowing escape from North Korea — one of the most secretive and oppressive regimes in the world.
Time wasn’t on Park Seong-il’s side. Weak, malnourished and recovering from his third heart attack, he had just witnessed his brother die in his arms — and now the famine ravaging Kim Il-Sung’s North Korea seemed set to claim him, too.
Then, when she returned home, she would play ‘Kill The Americans” with her younger brother, Jeong-ho, and when it snowed, they made American snowmen before pouring hot water over them, laughing as they melted. “We were the exalted heroes of the glorious fight,” writes Park.In the 1990s, North Korea was devastated by a famine that saw rationing, blackouts and no running water — and up to 3 million deaths.“It occurred to me that anyone could be executed: that it could be me,” she writes.
By 1997, Park was left to look after her father on her own. Her mother had borrowed money, but unable to repay the loans, the debt collectors had started removing furniture and kitchen equipment from their home. In a bid to escape, she fled to China, telling Park she was going to visit a cousin and make some money.
Her husband suggested selling the baby to pay off his gambling debts. With no money, a young child and a husband in name only, life had become intolerable for Jihyun Park. At school, children would have daily classes about the life of the country’s leader — the “Beloved Father” — and sing songs in his praise.In 2004, though, a cut on her foot became infected and, soon, gangrenous. “Over time my leg became darker and darker, until it was almost black,” she recalls. “The guards told me I was going to die soon.”
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