Tyranny, Slavery and Columbia U | Yeonmi Park | EP 172

On this episode of the Jordan Peterson Podcast, Jordan was joined by Yeonmi Park. Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector and human rights activist trying to shine a light on the atrocities still being committed in North Korea by the current Kim regime. She wrote her experiences into a bestseller, ‘In Order to Live.’ She tells stories of her childhood and escaping to remind the world of how terrible things are for North Koreans. Jordan and Yeonmi discussed various topics: her escape from North Korea, her slavery in China, and the frustration and disappointment she experienced pursuing a humanities degree at Columbia. In Order To Live is available at ( Park), Social media: @YeonmiParkNK Twitter and Facebook; Instagram @yeonmi_park; YouTube [00:00] Intro [02:00] Yeonmi’s story [04:30] Information control [06:00] Eating in North Korea [08:00] Spring: the season of death when people can’t make it to the summer for lack of food [10:30] Average wage in North Korea; living off grasshoppers [13:00] Class distinction in North Korea [15:00] Group guilt [18:00] What Yeonmi’s parents did to survive [21:00] When her father started to trade and how she links trade with freedom [24:30] How Yeonmi’s mother was almost thrown in a prison camp because of her uncle [29:00] Alone as a child in North Korea: a typical day and week (one of the best clips) [33:00] What she was eating and where she was getting her food [36:00] Constantly thinking about food [41:30] The North Korean prison camp experience [44:00] Her father’s release from the concentration camp [45:00] What happened to her father when he came back from prison [48:00] China lights from North Korea [49:30] Trafficking into china [50:30] Her time as a sex slave in China [56:30] Eating enough food to get full for the first time [58:00] Reuniting with her father and the slave owner [01:01:30] Selling her mother for food [01:03:30] Sex chat rooms [01:05:00] Freedom in South Korea through Christianity [01:06:30] Christian missionary [01:11:30] Traveling to Mongolia [01:14:30] The holding camp in Mongolia [01:19:00] Being identified as refugees in South Korea [01:20:00] When she realized what North Korea was [01:21:00] The relevance of George Orwell’s book Animal Farm to her experience of North Korea [01:23:30] When Yeon Mi started to speak out [01:27:30] What drove her from the university [01:34:00] Managing to get into a university in South Korea [01:35:30] Becoming the North Korean Paris Hilton and studying criminal justice [01:39:00] Discovering her sister [01:40:00] Attending Columbia University [01:44:00] Her time at Columbia University [01:57:30] What’s next for Yeonmi? Jordan B Peterson is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, a clinical psychologist, and the author of the 2021 bestseller Beyond Order, the multi-million copy bestseller 12 Rules for Life, and Maps of Meaning (see #1 for nonfiction in 2018 in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, Brazil and Norway, and slated for translation into 50 languages. Dr. Peterson has appeared on many popular podcasts and shows, including the Joe Rogan Experience 877, 958, 1006, The Rubin Report (12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Free Speech, Psychology, Gender Pronouns), H3H3 #37, and many more. // SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL // Newsletter: Donations: // COURSES // Discovering Personality: Self Authoring Suite: Understand Myself (personality test): // BOOKS // Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos: Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief: // LINKS // Website: Events: Blog: Podcast: Reading List: Merchandise: // SOCIAL // Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: // SPONSORS // For Advertising Inquiries, visit