Yeonmi Park tells how she was nearly raped by trafficker who smuggled her out of North Korea. A North Korean woman has described the moment her mother was raped in front of her after sacrificing herself to a people trafficker threatening to attack her daughter. Yeonmi Park, now living in New York, was just 1. China. Now 2. 1, Yeonmi, who has written a new book - In Order To Live - about her journey and life in North Korea, has revealed how the man ended up selling her mother – and forcing Yeonmi to be his second . Scroll down for video Yeonmi Park escaped North Korea aged 1. She has written a new book - In Order To Live - about her journey and life in North Korea, has revealed how the man ended up selling her mother – and forcing Yeonmi to be his second . Yeonmi said: 'It was a nightmare, only in your nightmares can that sort of thing happen.'Speaking about the incident in 2. Yeonmi told FEMAIL: 'She didn't want the trafficker to rape me.'When he pushed her to the floor and raped her, that was my introduction to sex.'It was a nightmare, only in your nightmares can that sort of thing happen.'My mum was the most brave person in the world.'Yeonmi, who has detailed life growing up under the dictatorship of . She said: 'I ate flowers, grasshoppers, dragonflies. I didn't know they made cook books about food, in North Korea no one knows. How much food we have is all we care about, not about the taste.'Yeonmi explained: 'It was not proper ingredients, it was whatever you had.'I ate flowers, grasshoppers, dragonflies. I didn't know they made cook books about food, in North Korea no one knows. How much food we have is all we care about, not about the taste.'Everything is edible, nothing is left over.'Yeonmi lifts the lid on the brutal regime of Kim Jong- il, of people starving, helpless citizens doing whatever they can in order to survive, and she says it was usual to see dead bodies in rubbish heaps on the street – and to witness public executions by firing squad. Brainwashed by propaganda from the limited state- approved TV and radio channels, she ignored what was going on around her, too young to question it, but recounts one scarring memory of seeing the body of a man dead in the street ripped open – perhaps by dogs – and she ran home in fear North Korea's military state can be seen in this picture from 1. Yeonmi was two. Writing in her book, Yeonmi reveals: . Yeonmi lifts the lid on the brutal regime of Kim Jong- il in a new book. She said: 'People don't even have the freedom to watch television or watch a film.'Writing in her book, Yeonmi reveals: . But North Korea ignored the crisis, and as many as a million North Koreans died from starvation or disease during the worst years of the famine. Yeonmi writes: . In most countries, a mother encourages her children to ask about everything, but not in North Korea. It was the economic crisis which led her family to make the difficult choice to attempt to escape. Yeonmi pictured as a toddler, left, and right with older sister Eunmi in matching outfits. How it is today: North Korean schoolchildren help to fix pot holes in a rural road in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. Yeonmi’s family struggled – her father was arrested for smuggling and her mother left her and her sister alone for a month as she attempted to rescue him. It was this crisis which led her family to make the difficult choice to attempt to escape. When he pushed her to the floor and raped her, that was my introduction to sex. Yeonmi's then- 1. Eunmi had made the journey from their home in North Korea to China the day before in such haste she wasn't able to tell anyone. So when Yeonmi and her mother managed to persuade a man to smuggle them across the border to find her, they didn't question his motives. And Yeonmi, who was then just 1. She said: 'It was very exciting, I was going to the place where there was life. Mediagazer presents the day's must-read media news on a single page. Karol Madera, psychotic, liar, fraud, stalker, & impostor. DoJ Rejects KZ8O Forfeiture Case. On August 8, 2016, the Department of Justice refused to attempt to. The control panel made a beep, and White waited a moment, expecting a voice to offer information or instructions. He pressed the intercom button, but there. I had longed for that life.'I thought, . I had this strength from somewhere.'However, once Yeonmi and her mother reached China, the man who had promised to help them, turned on them. He demanded to have sex with the teenager, who was only saved when her mother sacrificed herself instead. After the horrific attack, the pair were taken back to the man’s house – and introduced to his wife. The trafficker's partner, who was originally from North Korea, took pity on her and showed her how to live in China. Yeonmi had never before used or seen basic products such as sanitary towels - in North Korea a thin piece of fabric was used and then washed - which she thought smelled so nice she wanted to save it. The woman showed the teenager how to use a flush toilet and a shower as she had only ever washed in a river or brought back a bucket of water to use. Even toilet roll was a new experience as in in North Korea they would use 'newspaper or a used notebook'. A North Korean woman has described the moment her mother was raped in front of her after sacrificing herself to a people trafficker threatening to attack her daughter. Yeonmi, pictured with sister Eunmi left, now speaks around the world to raise awareness of what is happening in North Korea. Yeonmi said despite escaping she is still not a 'free person' and has been targeted by North Korea's regime. But despite the wife showing compassion, Yeonmi's mother was sold to be a bride in order to allow her to stay in the country – but the trafficker kept Yeonmi. Yeonmi reveals that the man attempted to rape her several times but she fought back, biting, kicking – she was one day forced to hold a knife to her own throat, threatening to kill herself. Not wanting to lose her, the trafficker made her an offer, he already had a wife but if Yeonmi consented to be his mistress he would buy her mother back. She said: 'Even though I agreed to be his mistress to reunite my family, I still imagined killing him.'I didn't see him as a human being.
It was more than hate it was really strong anger.'Yeonmi said she saw the rape she endured as a business arrangement and the trafficker kept to his side and bought back her mother and smuggled Yeonmi's father through the border. I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea. For two years, he paid for the family's food and home, until he let them go after falling in love with Yeonmi. But before she was released, Yeonmi's father died from cancer. Yeonmi and her mother were able to reach Mongolia safely where they were sent to South Korea. She reveals that they decided to keep their time in China a secret, the shame of being trafficked and raped too large. Now safe, they lived under the radar with Yeonmi finishing high school in Seoul and two years later they were reunited with Yeonmi’s sister. Yeonmi's book about her journey is out now. But when she was invited to speak to fellow pupils about her life in North Korea, she realised she could finally use her voice. She has since become a high- profile activist and her speech at One Young World Summit in 2. You. Tube. Despite escaping the country, she says she is still not free. In January, a video was posted online titled The Human Rights Propaganda Puppet which appears to have come from North Korea’s secretive regime. But despite all she has been through, she says she would not change her time in North Korea. She writes: . Both of these events shaped me, and I would not trade them for an ordinary and peaceful life.’Yeonmi added: . I didn't know democracy existed or that great cities like New York or London existed.'All I knew was things could get better.'I have food now I have freedom.' In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom is out now from Fig Tree.
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