#196 – Yeonmi Park: North Korea

And words such as famine and hunger.

Were banned because they implied government failure. And once again, now, in 2021, Kim Jong un, the current leader of North Korea, is calling for his country to prepare for another arduous march or march of suffering, another period of mass starvation, as the country closes its borders. Looking at atrocities of the past decades and the encroaching atrocity there now, I think about the quiet suffering of millions of North Koreans. I think about the torture of the human spirit. I think about a north korean child who could be a scientist, an artist, a writer, but who instead grows impossibly thin without food, their bodies slowly rotting away as their parents watch helplessly. I got emotional in this conversation with Yonmi, in part because I remembered my grandmother, who survived Kaldamor, the famine in Ukraine intentionally created by Stalin, where four to 10 million people died and many, many more suffered. Imagine knowing that if you don't engage in cannibalism, you will die before your children did, and then they will be eaten. Imagine, because of this, deciding to murder and eat your own children as many people did. Imagine the kind of desperation, torture that leads up to a decision like that. I'm not smart enough to know what evil is, know where to draw the line between good and evil. But Stalin, King Jung il, Kim Jon un, are men who, in the name of power, are willing to make millions of people, of children suffer and die from starvation. I rarely have hate in my heart, but I hate these men. I hate that such men exist in this world. I hate that the beauty I love about this life exists amidst such unimaginable cruelty. I have been haunted by this conversation, by memories of my grandmother's pain. But I've also been warmed by memories of her love. Love gives me hope. Hope for the perseverance of the human spirit, even in the face of evil. As usual, I'll do a few minutes of ads now. No ads in the middle. I think those get in the way of the conversation. If you skip the ads, please still support the sponsors.

Check them out. It really is the best way to.

Support this podcast, and they're pretty awesome in that we're very selective in the.

Ones we take on.

So hopefully if you buy their stuff, you find value in it, just as I have. This show is sponsored by Bel Campo Farms, whose mission is to deliver meat you can feel good about. Meat that is good for you, good for the animals, and good for the planet. Bel campo animals graze on open pastures and seasonal grasses, resulting in meat that is higher in nutrients and healthy fats. Bel Campo has honestly been the best tasting and obviously the best ethically meat I've been eating at home. In fact, that's all I've been eating. Their ground beef. Delicious. So there's these one pound packages and I eat two of them a day. And of course, it depends whether I'm doing 16, eight or 24 hours fast. I'll either eat two meals of Bell campo or one with the same amount of calories. I've gotten a chance to visit Bel Campo Farms and actually do a podcast with Anya Fernand, who ran Bel Campo for many years. But she's also a chef and just.

A really interesting person to talk to.

It's a really cool experience to do a podcast outdoors, but also just to take time away from computer and Internet life and instead go out into nature. Anyway, you can order Bell Campo sustainably raised meats to be delivered straight to your door, which is what I do. Using code lex@bellcampo.com lex for 20% off for first time customers. That's code lex@bellcampo.com lex this show is sponsored by Gala Games, a fun new sponsor. They created a gaming ecosystem on a blockchain where ingame assets are nfts that you can keep trade in the game and outside the game. They are attracting big game designers, developers, and they are attracting big game designers.

And I think have a real chance.

To create totally new gaming experiences.

Speaking of which, I really want to.

Talk to a few game designers, especially for the games I've loved. Certainly John Carmack is on that list. We've agreed a long time ago to talk, and I'm actually pretty sure we'll talk many times. He's a brilliant engineer, brilliant designer, just brilliant mind, and a judo black belt I think might be a jiu jitsu black belt too, just in many ways a kindred spirit. But back to Gala games. I started playing the town simulation game called Town Star. I created a town called Lexington because I'm very creative, not at all and started building stuff. I love the game. Wish I had more time to play it, but I certainly enjoyed it when I did play it. I will do my best to do a stream every couple of months of me playing a video game. Anyway, check it out at Gala Game Lex. That's Gala Gameslex. This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp, spelled H-E-L-P. They figure out what you need and match you with a licensed professional therapist in under 48 hours. I've been getting back out there in the grind of running in the Austin heat. Exercise, especially exercise in 100 degree weather, is a kind of therapist. Nature is a therapist. Struggle is a therapist. If you persevere, reveals the demons in your mind, the things that maybe you've been running from, that you've been afraid of, and you get to deal with them. Obviously, the more rigorous way to do that is by talking to somebody about it. So I think exercise, meditation, all those things help reveal the demons. But then you have to, I think.

Talk through them, process them, sort of.

Find the light at the end of the tunnel, especially if you're struggling and that a professional therapist can really help with. Betterhelp is easy, private, affordable, available worldwide. Check them out@betterhelp.com. Lex that's betterhelp.com lex. This episode is sponsored by eight sleep and it's pod pro mattress. It controls temperature with an app and is packed with sensors and can cool down to as low as 55 degrees on each side of the bed separately in the Texas summer heat. Even with air conditioning, I can't tell you how awesome it feels to take a nap in a cold bed or to get a really nice full night's sleep in a cold bed. I tend to enjoy a lot of things about life, but this is definitely up there. Great. Sleep on a cold bed and then maybe with a bit of a warm blanket. That's heaven. Anyway, they have a pot pro cover so you can just add that to your mattress without having to buy theirs. But their mattress I have. It is pretty nice, if you want.

To know my opinion.

It can track a bunch of metrics, like heart rate variability, but cooling alone is worth the money. Go to eight sleep Lex to get special savings. That's eight sleep Lex. This is the Lex Friedman podcast, and here is my conversation with Yonmi park.

Can you tell your story from North Korea to today, as you describe in your 2015 book, and with the extra perspective on life, love, and freedom you've gained since then?

Wow, that's a long story. So I was born in the northern part of North Korea initially, and my father was a party member and my mom was housewife. I had one older sister, and I remember born in that country. I never thought I was in an unusual country. Now I'm thinking about it. It's literally called the Hermit kingdom. But I thought I believed that I was living in the best country on earth.