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

by Yeonmi Park

According to North Korea, my grandfather Park and my parents were criminals. My father bought and sold goods for a profit; in other countries he’d simply be called a businessman. He bribed officials—whose salaries weren’t enough to feed their families—in order to travel freely in his own country. And while it’s true that my grandfather and my parents stole from the government, the government stole everything from its people, including their freedom.

After a while you can’t care anymore. And that is what hell is like.

Love people with benevolence. Save mankind from agony.

But I still did not know how to cry for a stranger’s suffering. As far as I knew, it was impossible, because no stranger had ever cried for me.