North Korea's Abuses as told by Yoenmi Park

Yoenmi speaking on her experience (x)

The One Young World Summit of 2014 was held in Dublin, Ireland and concluded on October 18th. The Summit claims is "gathers the brightest young leaders from around the world, empowering them to make lasting connections and develop solutions to some of the world's most pressing issues." One particularly bright young woman, Yeonmi Park, told the powerful and harrowing tale of her heart-breaking upbringing in North Korea. The young activist is spreading awareness about the egregious human rights violations by the dictator Kim Jong un's Workers’ Party. Her opening reads: "North Korea is an unnatural country. There is only one channel on TV and there is no internet. We aren't free to sing, say, wear or think what we want. North Korea is the only country in the world that executes people for making unauthorized international phone calls. North Koreans are being terrorized today." The nation is known to conduct public executions,  practice strict censorship, torture criminals and refuse free passage across borders. Yoenmi Park wanted to draw attention to the suffering of North Korean refugees, having been smuggled into China in 2007. Park stated that among many courses of action she'd like to focus on three things. Her instructions for fellow delegates were as follows:  "raise awareness about human crisis in North Korea," "help and support North Korean refugees who are trying to escape for freedom" and "petition China to stop repatriation." 

As illustrated in Yoenmi's speech, North Korea is actively violated Articles 11 through 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The articles outline that "Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty," "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence," "Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."

Sources

Escaping North Korea in Search of Freedom

How I escaped horrors of life under Kim Jong il