© REUTERS / Phil NobleJihyun Park
Jihyun Park arrived in Britain in 2008 as a desperate refugee with no English. Now she wants to cap an extraordinary story by becoming a councillor - and has words of advice for those who say the UK has become too authoritarian.
Award-winning human rights activists tend not to join Boris Johnson's Conservative Party. It's for the elite, the rich, the upper class. You also wouldn't expect one to stand up for the prime minister, who embodies privilege, having attended Eton College and Oxford University. But Jihyun Park is different.
"Sometimes I see people describe the prime minister as totalitarian or a dictator, but they've never been under a totalitarian system or dictatorship," she says. "They say these words and they are allowed to. No one punishes or tortures them. They have freedom of speech. I'd say to anyone in Britain: your life is better than that in so many other countries. Enjoy your life, don't complain, but communicate with your local government to improve it."
Park is a North Korean defector who is hoping to win a council seat for the Conservatives in the Moorside ward of Greater Manchester in May's local elections. But why the Tories?
She offers her own North Korean indoctrination as a reason to look beyond lazy stereotypes. Speaking to RT.com, Park said, "Many people have said, '
You're a human rights activist, so why did you choose the Conservatives? I was shocked, as this is a democratic country and people can choose any party. They don't have to follow the one they are told to.
"
It reminds me of when I lived in North Korea. I was taught to hate the Americans and the South Koreans, but I had never even met one of them. Yet we always hated them - it was racism, and it never improved our life or brought us any happiness.
"Many people only think about one thing. Like with the Conservatives, they might think they discriminate. But they don't learn about all those in the party. The Conservatives have always given me an equal chance. When I applied to be a councillor and had to go for the interviews, they never asked me if I was a refugee. They treated me like anyone else."
Park joined the party in 2016, but the pandemic spurred her to run for election. However, she doesn't see herself as similar to many who run for office, and adds, "
I want to be a local councilor, and, to me, that's not a politician, it's a community leader. 2020 was a horrible year - many people died of the virus and many people have been separated from their families.
"I donated PPE to six care homes in North Manchester. This country has given me a new chance and offered my family equal opportunities, so I wanted to help people who are weak or helpless like those residents.
"When I came to the UK, people accepted us and gave us so much: happiness, opportunity, challenges, everything. Now I want to pay back these people - that's why I've stood for this role."
Park's journey to Britain was gruesome. She initially escaped North Korea with her son, only to be human-trafficked in China and forced into an abusive marriage. The Chinese authorities then returned her to North Korea, but she had to leave her son behind.
Back home, she was tortured and held as a prisoner, before being freed when they thought she was going to die.
She escaped again to China, found her son, journeyed across Mongolia's desert with no food or water, and met a man whom she fell in love with and is now her husband.
In 2008, they relocated to the UK and now have three children. Of her astonishing journey, Park says, "In North Korea, we didn't get any information from outside the country. I didn't know the former Soviet Union had collapsed or anything about German unification.I only knew about England. I'd never heard of Britain or the United Kingdom. It was confusing when I came to the UK as I had chosen England and people told me, 'Welcome to the United Kingdom'. I didn't understand why they had sent me to a different country!
"I graduated from university in North Korea, but that is worth zero in the UK, so I did my school education again and passed my GCSEs and A-levels. In fact, I started my life again."
There is an endearing humility to Park, and it's the opposite of the usual bluster of political candidates.
She isn't claiming to know it all, but does feel her past can allow her to be an effective representative for her community.
As she explains, "My 'freedom age' is only 13 years, but my experience is greater than other people's. Maybe I can't speak English fluently and I'm weak on things like world history, but I know what freedom is and why family is important. And that's why I am standing for this.
"I haven't brought anything with me from North Korea. We are not human beings there - it's a hate-filled country. I never thought I would become a politician, as I never knew what democratic freedom was."
Park admits that, when she first arrived, there were some issues. Some people assumed she was Chinese and others threw stones at her house. But she engaged with them and now feels as British as anyone. Her husband is admired in the local area for his blooming garden, and he helps neighbours with odd jobs. And her kids are top performers at school - the family really has found a place in society. In short, it is an immigrant success story.
She continues, "In Manchester, there are many refugees and immigrants. I want to help them, as sometimes immigrants are scared to talk about their background as they can be discriminated against. I want them to know they should never be ashamed of their background - they are all heroes. They were born in their country, but that is not their fault."
Of course, Park's story gives her a unique perspective on some elements of British life. For example, the Kim dynasty rules North Korea with an iron fist, but does she see any similarity between them and the British royal family? Clearly, they have very different track records, but both are unelected and put on a pedestal, above the rank and file.
But Park says, "In North Korea, the Kims follow the Juche ideology [that is, self-reliance], but in the UK, it's totally different - you have lots of different religions, for example. The queen doesn't control everything,
but the Kims? They controlled our mind. You can never compare them.
"North Korea is not a country, it's a mafia - we are slaves in North Korea. We have eyes and ears, but we only ever hear or see one person."Here in England, we have dinner with my children and they tell us about their school day and they smile. But when I lived in North Korea, I didn't do that - my father only told me to respect the leaders and
be careful of what words I used."
Park helps North Korean refugees who arrive in Britain.
Around 700 live in London and she provides support to help them learn English and negotiate the process of registering with a doctor and the local authority. That, along with her burgeoning political career, has given her a profile.
But she isn't concerned that the North Korean regime may seek to silence her, as it has with other dissidents. She says, "Maybe they will try, but I'm never scared or worried. I've already fought against them twice. I have painful stories from my life, but I never cried. They took my life and everything else, but I always smiled - they couldn't take that. Now I want to work in my community here and make them smile with me. I don't worry about anything else."
All politicians have a snappy slogan or pre-rehearsed message to end any interview with. But Park seems slightly shocked when I ask what she might want to say to the voters who could elect her.
After a brief pause, she delivers a line that the likes of Boris Johnson and his well-connected peers wouldn't dream of uttering. "I want to save one person. To me, that is like saving the world."
Reader Comments
I'm wary of these Heroic stories, they often turn out to be fake like Ayaan Hirsi Ali's.
Her statement explains why she is currently in favor of the Anglo world order. She does not understand how the treatment of Koreans by Japanese, Anglos, Americans and others over the past century has led to the division of Korea and Koreans.
I'm not a fan of totalitarianism in any form but I understand that the DPRK remains in a state of war with the current world order and the depravations experienced by her and her family are a result of Anglo actions and pressure.
She has effectively 'joined the dark side' because the 'dark side' has cookies
She's obviously a pawn who's been wheeled out to show how loving and caring BoJo and his chums really are.
Expect to see her steady rise.
+1
This will only cause capital to flee faster from west to east as it is now fleeing Europe to China buying 3% bonds according to AE. Draghi has destroyed the bond markets with negative rates, banks which must hold this crap and of course pensions as most are required to hold this crap also. Lagarde will finish what Draghi has started with the collapse of the EU as she implements the Great Reset. Capital knows no boundaries and will also flee where there is yield and safety. History is full of countries and empires who all collapsed over taxation, mismanagement and totalitarianism as those in power attempt to try to stay there. When politicians and bureaucrats raise taxes this is an admission that they have failed at managing and governing and they do so with no conscious, remorse or shame! The populations of the west has been mismanaged and raped as the existing system is collapsing from this.
" Totalitarianism is a form of government that attempts to assert total control over the lives of its citizens. It is characterized by strong central rule that attempts to control and direct all aspects of individual life through coercion and repression. It does not permit individual freedom."
The west is destroying itself and the Great Reset is nothing but communism and that is where we are heading as they take a page out of the marxist playbook of divide and conquer, rich vs poor, white against blacks, straight against gay, illegal immigrants against citizens, left vs conservatives, law and order and the rule of law against BLM, Antifa, defund the police, leftist academics, parents against teachers brainwashing children, government against corporations and free enterprise of starting ones business, climate change activists against science, virus against science, blue states against red, American citizens against government tyranny, US and the west against China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela and everyone who does not bend the knee to the west, taxation without representation!
"France in Lockdown" [Link]
Europe is coming under a lot of pressure. In the UK, people ate becoming very angry over PM Boris Johnson’s consideration of “sinister and discriminatory” domestic Covid-19 passports. In France, the lockdown has become a symbol of total corruption and a viral report on secret luxury dinners for government ministers is reminiscent of the old Soviet Union where the leaders lived in luxury in hidden military bases which the people starved. In France, l’Opinion has written that the government can deny the allegations but the damage has already been done.
All of this is coming from the World Economic Forum which has virtually total control over Europe at this time. Even the head of the IMF and the European Central Bank are both board members of the World Economic Forum. This is strangely right on time. The last two leftist movements were those of 1848 and 1934. Indeed, in France, the revolutionary events ended the July Monarchy (1830–1848) and led to the creation of the French Second Republic. Following the overthrow of King Louis Philippe in February 1848, the elected government of the Second Republic ruled France. There is a very serious risk that these forced lockdowns will result in civil uprisings.
Ironically, in 1853, the French government launched the Crimean War against Russia. If this remains on target, we should expect a war to start by 2025 and it may very well be over Crimea once more.
"Riots in Rome of Tyrannical Lockdowns" [Link]
We have confirmation from readers in Rome that there has been a protest in Piazza Montecitorio which began as a sit-in protest by restaurateurs and other categories were taking place today on the emergency closures for Covid. The peaceful protest has degenerated into a clash between protestors and police forces who assaulted the people launching various types of bombs and objects. The protestors were yelling at the police who would obviously just follow orders as did the Nazis in Germany calling them “buffoons” and “freedom” and the protestors turned on the ruthless police breaking through the barriers and the police turned violent.
NEVER in 6,000 years has any government tried to lockdown its people because of a claimed virus. The death rates are no different between states that locked down and those that remained open in the United States. This is a political agenda coming from the World Economic Forum. In the meantime, we have Spirit Airlines going tyrannical [Link] kicking off the plane a family because a two-year old does not have a mask. When ALL the studies show [Link] that even masks do not work, yet we have been subjected to outright tyranny on such a scale.
"Rome Protest 4/6/2021" [Link] video
The problem lady is YOU WERE BORN in a country like North Korea, while I WAS BORN FREE and hence any encroachment upon my liberties is totalitarianism. Mandatory masks are tyranny. Coerced experimental vaccines are tyranny. Mandatory anything especially regarding a contrived "emergency" is tyranny.
So fuck off back to North Korea and shut the hell up about something you know nothing about.
:Downing Street’s dodgy dealings with Citigroup and Greensill show just how far the British government is willing to go to line the pockets of banks and other financial firms while bleeding taxpayers dry..."
Then there's the classic phrase on basically all the vaccine debate threads I've seen, "Where'd you get your education, the internet?" to which I'm often tempted to say, "Basically. I read and watch educational videos a lot. Where'd you get your education, a few sound bites from mainstream media?"
Personally I don't give a good gosh damn about what people say. Most of the time it's merely fear based or mimicking what was parroted out of the mouths of media drones. A couple of side notes: when the lemmings are running toward the cliff, its best to get out of the way. Also, it makes no sense in trying to run into a burning building to save people. We'll probably see a lot of death in the years to come. Best to prepare oneself psychologically...
It's time to make new friends who are like minded. Nice to meet you !
I think George Carlin summed it up when he said; and I'm paraphrasing, "Maybe the earth made humans so that it could get plastic. It can't make it for itself, and so now it has all the plastic it can use it's time for the humans to go away. It doesn't need us anymore."
There are environmental factors that cause insanity, here's one: [Link]
Thanks for the personal story. For you, the insidious menace of these positively evil and unbelievably irresponsible 'vaccines', must be even more manifest. Even the depressingly few 'lambs' (too blind and hell bent on self-destruction to be sheep) who are becoming just a little more circumspect before embracing slaughter will require a lot more shaking before they begin to wake up.
I'm afraid it's not only 'vaccines' that reassure me not one bit - it's the medical profession in general. I have ended up having NO faith. My wife was mis-diagnosed with a serious illness some years back. She did not even have it and, it was later revealed, did not even have any of the most significant indicators so flagrantly and erroneously ascribed to her condition - and this by our city's 'top', and most lauded, professional 'expert'. To cut a very long and anguished story short, this 'expert', in league with a hopelessly useless quack of a General Practitioner (a friend of his and fellow exponent of lazy guesswork) ended up needlessly shutting down my wife's immune system and loading her up with dangerous drugs - one of which was in the new and 'experimental' (virtually untried) stage. Result: slow decline leading suddenly to ultra-rapid decline. Worried calls and return visits to the GP friend of the 'expert' yielded only exhortations to step up her intake of one of the dangerous drugs. One morning, she was almost totally incapable of breathing and I had to get her to hospital immediately. Then she was rushed off to another hospital while they desperately tried to enable her to get air. There, an emergency tracheostomy, and soon, an induced coma. She was in intensive care for FIVE WEEKS. Then recovery and rehabilitation for a further five. It was a miracle that she recovered and I believe my unceasing and profound prayers were answered. A number of other life-threatening issues arose while so immobile during this nightmare - DVTs (deep vein thrombosis) not least among them, with associated potentially serious stomach problems requiring exploratory surgery (while still in a coma) due to the blood thinning medication necessitated by the emergence of DVT.
At the end of it all, she had to learn all over again how to walk, talk, eat and drink - all the stuff you take for granted. I was able, again by miracle - and in answer to my prayers - to get her back to normal way sooner than the 'experts' had forecast. As an example of how these people simply guess much of the time, when I was in the ICU with her, pretty well all day every day, talking to her while she 'slept', I had two more of those 'top experts' give me their prognosis for the future. One said, with total confidence, that she would continue to have regular episodes of the same condition since the condition and the damage done was so extreme. Another said, and again with total confidence, that there was NO reason why she would not recover completely and never be similarly afflicted.
I must put in a positive word for the medical profession here, because once I had persuaded the teams of doctors, surgeons and specialists to take ME seriously as a person who absolutely needed - no, MUST have this person saved - and once I was able to convince them that they could do so, they began to work, and to think, and to enquire, and to leave nothing unresearched and untried in order to do it. Afterwards I thanked one of the leading specialists there, with tears in my eyes, for saving her life and he said "No, it was YOU who saved her life. . ." which of course really upset me (in a strange, traumatic, but I guess ultimately good way).
The clown 'expert' and his doctor friend who had caused all this, displayed manufactured 'concern' in the background while the terrible episode unfolded and I believe they were actually quaking with fear that we would sue them. Needless to say, my wife also had to take many months off work and the associated consequences were many, varied and expensive. They probably knew however, that after what we had been through, we could never have stood up in court for weeks and re-live the whole thing. We could - and probably should - have requested millions in damages, but to have our lives back meant so much more. And speaking of millions, a lawyer friend of mine told me at the time that the hospital would have spent way, way over a million dollars on the long and complex treatment processes needed to save her life - so that is of course, the truly good, wonderful and dedicated side of medicine.
I have hugely simplified and abbreviated this account to keep it concise. For myself, I no longer go to the doctor for any reason. When my time is up, I will die - simple as that.
By the way, thanks for the link to the 'Thunderbolts' piece. Wow - food for thought certainly. Perhaps this may explain, in some convoluted way, the insanity and apparently mindless self-destructive courses of action and directions being embarked upon by so much of humanity. The current 'plague' of course, has simply been manufactured, packaged-up, made fashionable, propagandized and sold to the masses. Their gigantic over-reaction and outbreaks of almost laughable stupidity may well, at least partially, be explained by universal forces hitherto little-known or understood.
Getting back to your perceptions regarding the 'current plague.' I think for sure that what has been packaged up and sold to the primed masses was the hype around the 'fear' of this unseen thing seemingly attacking us and those we know & love. The result of hype has been, as you also perceived, over-reaction and the end of clear thinking due to emotionalism.
In this 'dream world,' stupidstition has replaced scientific method, and infotainment has fed the populace lies brought to you by...(add your least or most favorite corporate sponsor here.) Take the jab and you 'now seemingly' become a patented and marketable commodity. Perhaps the 'owners' will attempt to trade away lives as if they are some new fangled currency to exchange.
For humanity as a whole, the sum of the parts are far too outwardly directed, but when encouraged to go inward, and there is a 'tipping point,' the paradigm shift will be profound. The end is as certain as the means 'unfolding' before our eyes because All is being projected from 'US' in the future to us in this moment. We can merely catch a glimpse of the 'All as One' due to each of us holding on to the past and insisting on carrying it into the present, preventing us, however briefly, from being wholly present in the Eternal Now As One... Forgiveness is key, and although it too is an illusion, at least this positive illusion brings us back to ourselves as We Who Are As One, and not as we think we are, as separate beings apart from everything.
For those of us still heavily invested in the body and dualism, all this seems to be a hell. Those who rise above the battlefield will see it as a classroom to let go of all we think we knew, to join forces as One Will, again through forgiveness. I'm convinced of it because it has already happened, for those attuned to inward Vision can 'see' its unfolding. Once fear has been released, the illusion of it melts away, and joy fills the tiny gap that was misperceived between your brother/sister and yourself.
REPLY: Europe is totally in the hands of Klaus Schwab and his World Economic Forum which is pushing this new Global Marxist Takeover. I do not think I will ever see London again. These new laws of 10 years in prison for failing to reveal where you have been in Britain are just ruthless. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is imposing new border restrictions that could include systematic quarantine for all visitors from abroad and the use of localization and facial-recognition technology to check that people required to do so remain in isolation. I don’t think you will see American tourists watching the changing of the guard.
Meanwhile, in France, Macron is moving to impose a third lockdown with his communist medical experts and scientific government advisors demanding total lockdowns to further the total destruction of the European economy. Macron has called up 4,400 officers [Link] to enforce a 6 pm curfew in Paris amid compliance concerns.
Then Merkel in Germany said back in January [Link] that she was considering extending Germany’s lockdown until April in an effort to contain what she reportedly called the ‘British virus.’ Then on March 3rd, 2021, Germany extended its lockdown [Link] by three weeks until March 28th, yet claiming it would ease some restrictions to allow nonessential stores and other businesses to reopen in areas with relatively low infection rates.
Europe is finished. It is totally in the hands of the World Economic Forum. Forget tourism and all of this is being imposed deliberately to destroy the economy so they can BUILD BACK BETTER. You cannot rebuild anything until you destroy it. Curiously, they have always blamed Nero for burning down Rome so he could build his Golden Palace. It looks like this time it is Klaus Schwab who I predict history will NOT treat kindly when freedom to write returns.
Like the Euro, they never allowed the people to really vote on joining that currency in Germany. Kohl stated he acted like a dictator because he knew he would lose. This is the very same thing. They are using this virus to terrorize people so they can destroy the economy and then BUILD BACK BETTER – Green!
It certainly appears that the British pound is still very much at risk of making new historic lows into 2022. The destruction of the British economy is just astonishing. Johnson managed to create a drop in GDP of nearly 10% in 2020 – the worst decline in 300 years. He appears to be trying to do a better job this year with hopes of creating a 15% decline.
Meanwhile, in the United States, John Kerry is the Davosman, and Biden is signing executive order after order and has never made a single speech since taking office – no president has ever done this! This begs the question who is really running the government right now? This has been the greatest fear with Biden that he is not all there and Harris, with no international experience whatsoever, is going to take the role of international relations. The Deep State is in full control and Schwab seems to have at least a few strings into the White House.
He always seemed to have money and nice things; no way he sold that much hash. His family has been 'connected' to business and politics for a long, long time but back then I didn't know him for anything other than a supplier of mediocre "blonde"
Since his brother Rob's passing, this little tyrant has been pushed up the ladder (he is in no shape to climb) to where he is now. I would like to know who is doing the 'pushing'. I understand the swamp, I just would like to know which creatures are really in control.
Looking at the place from a 'western' (Rupert's Land) perspective, I don't believe the politics of the province has changed all that much since the early 1800's or even late 1700's. People living in, and in control of the province are all well-heeled, well-connected and white, anglo-saxon protestants; same as it's been since the french were displaced so long ago
I look forward to western separation but I don't think the government in Ottawa can handle the global storms of late and so I believe that the Canadian government will not last and we can return to a Rupert's Land in the west, free of swamp monsters like this.
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"Our members will NOT be conducting random vehicle or individual stops for the sole purpose of enforcing the EMCPA... Don’t make cops the bad guys here !"