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

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Dissenting voice ... Park Sang-hak, releasing a balloon carrying anti-North Korea leaflets, has been branded ‘human scum’ by the regime. Photograph: Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images a b c Engel, Richard; Werner, Kennett (26 February 2018). Written at Seoul. "Yeonmi Park's long journey from North Korea to Chicago". NBC News. New York City . Retrieved 15 June 2021. Questions have been raised about the accuracy of some parts of her narrative and inconsistencies in details. For example, whether it was true, as she describes in the book, that her family was so close to starvation that she and her elder sister would forage in the countryside for “wild plants and insects to fill our stomachs”, and her father would eat snow to fill himself.

In 2023 The Washington Post published an article by Will Sommer after the launch of Park's second book, While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America, described as Park's "disenchantment with American liberalism", writing that "Park is making the media rounds to raise alarms about another nation: the United States". [3] Sommer wrote: [3]

Nelson, Amy (1 July 2021). "North Korean defector says US Olympian Gwen Berry's flag protest 'unthinkable' ". Fox News . Retrieved 4 August 2021. Vollers, Maryanne (15 March 2015). "The woman who faces the wrath of North Korea". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 September 2015. Update 15 June 2021. NYPost Jane Austen is getting cancelled! Yeonmi Park says that freedom in the US is going the way of North Korea - she is now in Columbia university a b c d e f g h Murray, Richard (2017). "Reporting on the impossible: The use of defectors in covering North Korea" (PDF). Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. 14 (4): 20. Park’s remarkable and inspiring story shines a light on a country whose inhabitants live in misery beyond comprehension. Park’s important memoir showcases the strength of the human spirit and one young woman’s incredible determination to never be hungry again.” —Publishers Weekly

In 2014, Jolley questioned Park's claim that during the night of her escape from North Korea, she crossed several mountains. Jolley noted that there are no mountains between Park's hometown of Hyesan and China, and that the two countries are instead separated by a river. In response, Park wrote, "And there are mountains you can even see on Google Earth – maybe you call them big hills in English – outside of Hyesan that we crossed to escape." [7] In multiple interviews Park says she escaped North Korea with both her mother and father, however during the One Young World Summit in Dublin, Park claimed that only her mother had accompanied her and that she watched her being raped by a Chinese man. [7] I recommend Yeonmi's book to all asylums and refugees and all Americans especially the young generation to have some awareness about what is going on in the world so they appreciate what a great country they have and I should say we have because I am a proud US citizen and I love my second home country.I knew I was going to have trouble reading this book because I had already heard Yeonmi's story a few years earlier in an interview. Still, when I saw she had written a book I had to find out the full story. Following the publication of her memoir, Park "began presenting a far more harrowing description of life in North Korea than she had shared with South Korean TV fans", according to The Washington Post. [3] Experts on North Korea noted that Park had shifted the tone of her portrayal of life in North Korea following her jump from reality television to speaking at human rights conferences, going from claiming to have lived a life of luxury to claiming to have never seen eggs or indoor toilets. [3] Veracity of claims [ edit ] In passing she is also mentioning having an abortion, but it probably isn't that important in the grand scheme of things. One of the very few growing industries in North Korea is this operation of trying to compromise defectors and witnesses’ ... the leader, Kim Yong-un and military chiefs. Photograph: Yao Dawei/AP Photo/Xinhua a b c d e f Vollers, Maryanne (15 March 2015). "The woman who faces the wrath of North Korea". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 September 2015.

She had hoped that by changing a few details about her escape she could avoid revealing the full story. But after she decided to plunge into human rights activism, she realised that without the whole truth, the story of her life would have no real power or meaning. She has apologised for any discrepancies in her public record, and is determined that her book be scrupulously accurate. As far as the book goes, whether it's true or not, these things happen to people escaping North Korea - women and children are sold, people are beaten and tortured, people ate grass, people witnessed executions and loved ones starving to death. Yeomi Park is born into a subsistence-level existence in North Korea which is reduced to almost lower than that when her father, a smuggler of metals, is sent to a labour camp. When he is released, he is a broken man. Brown, Isabel (22 September 2021). "On The Frontlines With Special Guest, Yeonmi Park". Turning Point USA . Retrieved 10 October 2022. She skilfully details the ways in which North Koreans are taught from birth that their leaders are like all-powerful gods. Such is the level of indoctrination that as a child, Yeonmi Park considered it unthinkable to show disrespect for the leadership. Like her classmates she joined enthusiastically in military games (nobody wanted to be on the hated “imperialist American” team ) and believed their leader Kim Jong II to be a benevolent father to his people. Truth And RealityThe book also really highlights just how different the experience of defecting is for North Korean women compared to men. Often the men do this alone, and are exposed to harsh and violent endings. The women endure their own unique horrors that seem to revolve around this feeling of powerlessness and reliance on their captors, but often it’s alongside other women who share their plight. For Yeonmi, she had her mother. At three the following morning, Yeonmi and her mother took his remains to a nearby mountain and secretly buried them. ‘There was no funeral. Nothing,’ Yeonmi says. ‘I couldn’t even do that for my father. I couldn’t call anyone to say my father had passed away. He was 45 – really young. We couldn’t even give him painkillers."