Yeonmi Park is a North Korean-born activist and author best known for her 2014 One Young World speech and her memoir In Order to Live.
She fled North Korea at age 13 and later built a public career through books, campus speeches, and a YouTube channel.
Who is Yeonmi Park?
Yeonmi Park is an American conservative activist, author, and YouTuber who was born in Hyesan, North Korea.
She fled to China in 2007, reached South Korea in 2009, and moved to the United States in 2014. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2021.
Park first appeared on television in 2011 on the South Korean show Now On My Way to Meet You. Her 2014 speech at the One Young World Summit in Dublin then brought her global attention.
The Washington Post described her as one of the best-known North Korean defectors in the world.
Today she writes books, runs the YouTube channel Voice of North Korea by Yeonmi Park, and speaks at colleges across the United States. Her political views fall within American conservatism.
Her memoir In Order to Live came out in 2015.
Early Life of Yeonmi Park
Yeonmi Park grew up in Hyesan, a city in North Korea’s Ryanggang Province near the Chinese border. Her father was Park Jin-sik, and her mother was Byeon Keum-sook.
Park’s older sister, Eun-mi, was born in 1991.
Her father worked as a civil servant at the Hyesan town hall and belonged to the Workers’ Party of Korea. He also earned extra income by smuggling goods from China.
Park’s childhood overlapped with the 1990s North Korean famine. At the 2014 Oslo Freedom Forum, she said the film Titanic changed how she viewed loyalty to the Kim family.
She left North Korea on March 30, 2007, at age 13.
With help from brokers, Park and her mother crossed into Changbai Korean Autonomous County in Jilin, China.
Later, they found a Christian shelter in Qingdao that Chinese and South Korean missionaries ran.
In February 2009, Park says, the two traveled through the Gobi Desert into Mongolia to seek asylum. On April 1, 2009, they flew from Ulaanbaatar to Seoul.
South Korea granted her citizenship automatically on arrival.
Her sister Eun-mi reached South Korea separately through China and Thailand. Park and her mother later reunited with her.
Yeonmi Park Age / Birthday
Yeonmi Park is 32 years old as of 2026, born on October 4, 1993. Her zodiac sign is Libra, a sign often linked with balance and fairness.
She now works as an author, speaker, and YouTuber.
Yeonmi Park Ethnicity / Religion / Nationality
Yeonmi Park is American by citizenship, having naturalized in 2021. She was born in North Korea and held South Korean citizenship after 2009.
Her ethnic background is Korean, and she is a practicing Christian.
Yeonmi Park Height and Weight
Yeonmi Park stands at 5 feet 4 inches, which is equal to 163cm or 1.63m, while her weight is around 52 kg or 115 lbs.
She has brown hair and brown eyes.
Did Yeonmi Park Undergo Plastic Surgery?
Yeonmi Park has not publicly confirmed any plastic surgery or cosmetic procedure. Online speculation about her face has circulated, yet Park has never confirmed a single treatment.
Park was a teenager when she first appeared on television in 2011.
Since then, she has grown from a reality show guest into an author in her thirties. Her public look has also changed with age, styling, and a move from South Korean television to American stages.
She was 13 when she left North Korea in 2007.
Her appearance did draw early attention from journalists. Media academic Richard Murray wrote that her English skills and her image as a young woman helped her rise in the press.
Her lasting profile, however, rests on her advocacy and writing. She published In Order to Live in 2015 and While Time Remains in 2023.
Her second book reached stores on February 14, 2023.
Yeonmi Park Education
Park arrived in South Korea with only a second-grade education. She earned a high school equivalency in 18 months.
She then won admission to Dongguk University in Seoul.
At Dongguk, she studied criminal justice. After moving to New York in 2014, she took classes at Barnard College.
In 2016, she entered the Columbia University School of General Studies. She graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree.
Columbia became a talking point in her later speeches.
In 2021, she said the school pushed students to think in one way, and she compared that to North Korea. Columbia did not endorse that comparison.
Yeonmi Park Career
Early Media Work and Breakthrough (2011-2015)
In 2011, Park joined the Channel A program Now On My Way to Meet You under the name Yeju Park. The show began as a documentary series about defectors and later became a variety format.
She became known as the “Paris Hilton of North Korea” because she described a relatively privileged upbringing.
Her 2014 speech in Dublin spread widely online.
That same year, the BBC named her to its 100 Women list. She also moved to New York City in 2014 to finish her memoir.
Penguin Press published In Order to Live in September 2015, and Maryanne Vollers co-wrote it. The book follows her path from defection to higher education.
She co-hosted five episodes of the podcast North Korea Today with Casey Lartigue.
In 2015, Park also appeared in the documentary While They Watched.
Activism and Media Voice (2016-2022)
In 2016, Park entered Columbia while continuing her activism. By 2017, she had launched her YouTube channel, Voice of North Korea by Yeonmi Park.
She joined the Helena Group think tank as a member.
In 2021, Park appeared on podcasts hosted by Tim Pool, Joe Rogan, and Candace Owens. During this period, she began criticizing political correctness and woke culture in the United States.
She spoke at Texas Tech University in April 2021.
Books, Campus Tours and Recent Work (2023-Present)
Simon & Schuster published her second book, While Time Remains, on February 14, 2023. Jordan Peterson wrote the foreword, and the book sold more than 130,000 copies by June 2023.
In November 2023, she spoke at Wake Forest University and the University of Iowa.
Her accounts have drawn debate. In December 2014, The Diplomat published journalist Mary Ann Jolley’s article on inconsistencies in her stories. In July 2023, The Washington Post found discrepancies in some of her claims, and Park blamed imperfect memory and limited language skills.
The Diplomat also published Park’s written response to its article.
Her memoir co-author, Maryanne Vollers, said in 2015 that North Korea’s government targeted Park with a smear campaign. Park remains active on the speaking circuit.
On October 1, 2026, Park is scheduled to speak at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at an anti-communism event. She told Fox News Digital that communism is gaining ground among students.
Author Xi Van Fleet, a Cultural Revolution survivor, also speaks at the event.
Yeonmi Park Ex-Husband Ezekiel
Yeonmi Park married an American man named Ezekiel in 2017. The couple divorced in 2020.
They have one son together.
Ezekiel has kept a low public profile. Park moved to New York in 2014 and graduated from Columbia in 2020, the year the marriage ended.
She became a U.S. citizen in 2021, the year after the divorce.
Since the divorce, Park has focused on her son, her books, and her speaking schedule.
Yeonmi Park Son
Park and Ezekiel have one son. In 2022, she told Fox News Digital that she was raising him in Chicago.
He was four years old at the time of that interview.
In 2020, shortly after her Columbia graduation, a robber attacked Park while she walked with her son in Chicago. According to court records cited by The New York Times, a woman later pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint.
She later cited the incident as a turning point in her decision to speak out.
In the same Fox News Digital interview, Park said she worried about left-wing indoctrination at her son’s daycare. She also said she could not afford to homeschool him.
Yeonmi Park Net Worth and Salary
Yeonmi Park’s estimated net worth is $3 million as of 2026. Her income comes mainly from book sales and paid speeches.
Salary
Park said in 2023 that Turning Point USA paid her $6,600 per month. She also earns speaking fees from colleges and conferences.
In November 2023, for example, Park received payment for her Wake Forest University speech, which Young Americans for Freedom hosted.
Book and Speaking Income
Park’s first book deal with Penguin Publishing reportedly reached $1.1 million.
In Order to Live has sold more than 100,000 copies. While Time Remains passed 130,000 copies by June 2023.
In 2015, her speaking agent said she charged between $12,500 and $17,500 plus expenses per speech.
Her wealth comes mainly from her books and her speaking career, with added income from media work.
Yeonmi Park Social Media
Yeonmi Park is active on Instagram, X, and YouTube. Her Instagram handle is @yeonmi_park.
Her X account is @YeonmiParkNK.
Park’s YouTube channel, Voice of North Korea by Yeonmi Park, launched in 2017. She uses the channel to discuss North Korea and American politics.
She also posts about her speeches and books across these platforms.
Conclusion
Yeonmi Park went from Hyesan, North Korea, to a Columbia degree and a place on the American speaking circuit, with two books to her name.
Her accounts of life in North Korea draw wide attention and close scrutiny alike.