The following is a conversation with Yon Mi Park, a North Korean defector, human rights activist,

and author of the book in order to live.

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Let me say a few words about North Korea.

From 1994 to 1998, North Korea went through a famine.

Mass starvation caused primarily by King Jung Il, who at the time was the new leader of North Korea

after his father's death in 1994.

Somewhere between 600,000 and 3 million people died due to starvation.

From all the stories of famine and history, including my own family history, I've come to

understand that hunger tortures the human mind in a way that can break everything we stand

for.

In North Korea, during the 90s famine, many were driven to cannibalism.

Imagine, more than 10 million people suffering starvation for months and years, always on

the brink of death.

We don't know the exact numbers of people who died because the suffering was done in silence

in darkness.

Very little information in or out.

Most people had to survive without electricity, without clean water, medical supplies, sanitation,

and food.

The North Korean propaganda machine called this the Arduous March, or the March of Suffering,

and words such as famine and hunger were banned because they implied government failure.

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