ABOUT
Who I Am
I was born in Wonsan on the east coast of North Korea, a place of natural beauty overshadowed by one of the most oppressive regimes on earth, where the state owns your thoughts, your body, and even your dreams.
My awakening came at 17, sparked by a dangerous question:
“Why can’t I control my own life or express myself as a woman?”
That single question made everything clear: as long as I stayed, I would never have human rights, autonomy, or the freedom to dream. I held onto one truth:
“I would rather die chasing my dreams than live safely with regret.”
So I chose the only path that offered a future. At 17, I committed to freedom.
At 21, after four years of failed escape attempts, fear, betrayal, and unthinkable risks,
I crossed the border alone and entered South Korea alive and finally free.
Freedom was never the finish line, it was the beginning of a greater responsibility. To live as a truly free human being, I had to rebuild my entire life from the ground up: my education, my identity, my direction, and my purpose.
My transformation from a political slave to a democratic citizen forged the person I am today.
After completing my bachelor's degree in business, I stepped into a mission-driven role as an NGO project manager, supporting the economic independence of North Korean defectors and helping others rebuild the freedom I once fought to gain.
From there, my voice expanded—first as a global content creator revealing the hidden reality of North Korean life, and then as a public speaker reaching audiences on some of the world’s most influential stages, including TEDx, the Asia Freedom Forum, the Oslo Freedom Forum, and leading international schools and universities.
How I Rebuilt My Life
The Vision Behind My Voice
I speak out to reveal the unseen lives hidden behind North Korea’s silence, to protect the value of the freedom I nearly died to gain, and to ignite the courage and hope people need to rebuild their own lives, wherever their journey begin.
The Courage to Die is the powerful true story of Eunhee Park, the child of divorced parents and a mother lost to mental illness, who endured years of hunger and indoctrination in
a North Korean orphanage where survival meant silence.
Raised by her disabled grandfather and strong-willed grandmother, Eunhee faced abandonment, loss, and the rigid control of a totalitarian regime. To escape the regime, she crossed China in a perilous journey that exposed her to sexual abuse, hunger, exhaustion, and the constant threat of death.
Through every ordeal, she clung to the strength and curiosity instilled by her grandparents and transformed unimaginable suffering into courage, compassion, and a determination to tell the truth. Both harrowing and inspiring, her memoir reveals the cost of survival under tyranny and the unbreakable will
of a woman who refused to surrender her humanity.
“From darkness to dignity — the courage to die,
and be reborn in freedom.”
