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| In this February, 2019, file photo, Park Eun-hee, center, poses after winning a prize in the English Speech Contest for North Korean defectors in South Korea, at Shin and Kim Law Office in Seoul. Courtesy of Voices from the North |
Park Eun-hee, a North Korean refugee who will be a featured speaker at today's Asia Regional Freedom Conference, was recently interviewed for the upcoming issue of FSI Voice. Haley Son, who grew up in New York and currently attends Seoul Foreign School, conducted the interview and wrote the following article for "Voices from the North." ― Ed.
By Haley Son
Women in North Korea are routinely deprived of the basic freedom of expression, which is what ultimately persuaded North Korean refugee Park Eun-hee to leave her home and come to South Korea when she was 19 years old.
The turning point for Ms. Park was when she was 17 years old, and her friend gave her a USB containing clips of South Korean dramas and American movies. Park recalled, "It was an eye-opening moment. In the movies, the women were very pretty and free to do as they please. They didn't care about the police." She then compared this foreign world to her life and realized that "this is not the life human beings deserve. There is so much more than this outside of North Korea."
In North Korea, the police painstakingly ensure that citizens do not deviate from a set standard appearance, which for women, entails conservative clothes and short hair, monitoring their outfits daily. "The North Korean system is that everybody is the same," observed Park. But beyond the police, Park described the role of common citizens in reporting any breach of the rules: "Everyone is a spy around you in North Korea." If a person goes against the law, they are made to stand for 24 hours straight at a police station, or, in extreme scenarios, sent to a labor camp.
Even while still in North Korea, Park would attempt to express herself through her fashion choices, even in a small way. "There is a regulation to have short hair, but I kept my hair long and hid it. I would adjust my clothes, just a little, to make them different from the 'proper' way," said Park.
To somebody as passionate about self-expression as Park, these rules in North Korea went against her very nature. "I could not wear what I wanted to wear. I had no control over my body. Fashion is a form of self-expression. It's your identity and shows what you want to tell people about yourself," she said.
Now in South Korea, Park has geared her message toward women in North Korea, while embracing her own identity. "I am so proud to be a North Korean. I appreciate democracy and how individual voices are what make society beautiful. I am very grateful, even for the smallest things." In South Korea's "materialistic" culture, the value of 100,000 KRW is miniscule compared to its worth in North Korea. While $100 is nothing for South Koreans, it could save a life in North Korea. "So I am perhaps more grateful than the average person born in a free country."
Adjusting to South Korea has not been without its challenges. Compared to the image of South Korea she had built up in her head, South Korean society posed more obstacles than expected. "This society didn't accept [me] as an equal person. That was the hardest part for me: I realized that I had to take responsibility to figure out how to use my new freedom and overcome these challenges." Park firmly believes in the potential of North Korean refugees and the role they can play in South Korea; "They have lots of potential to develop themselves as leaders in this country and in the world."
Casey Lartigue Jr., editor of Voices from the North and co-founder of Freedom Speakers International, edited this article.
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