LONDON - A young North Korean defector who was trafficked and raped at the age of 13 after fleeing to China said on Friday that she hoped going public with her life story would shine a light on "the darkest place on earth" Uomo PSNY X Nike Air Force 1 High Bianche Scontate , her homeland.
Yeonmi Park, 22, broke down in tears as she described seeing her mother raped when they fell into the hands of traffickers after crossing the frozen Yalu river into China in 2007.
Some 25,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in the last 20 years to escape famine and repression in the world's most secret state with many others living underground in China.
"The first thing I saw was my mum raped. This man was trying to rape me. I didn't even know what sex or kissing was, and my mother protected me Uomo Nike Air Force 1 Low University Rosse Sail Scontate ," Park told the Women in the World summit in London during a tour to promote her newly released memoir "In Order To Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom".
"They said if you are in China you have to be sold, you have to get married. And something that still saddens me is that I actually didn't care, I was so hungry.
"My mum was sold for $65 and I was sold for $260 - at the age of 13," said Park, now a rights advocate based in South Korea who campaigns against trafficking.
If she became his mistress he would buy her mother who had been sold to a farmer but if she refused he would hand her to the police who would deport her to North Korea where defectors are sent to labor camps or even executed.
"For a long time I thought of it as a business transaction, not rape," she writes. "Only now can I accept what happened in all its terrible dimensions."
"It was as if the blood had dried in my veins and I'd become another person. I didn't have pity for anyone, including the girls I helped sell, including myself," she writes.
Park describes a hierarchy of gangsters who specialize in the trafficking of North Korean brides in China, which has a shortage of women.
Park said sometimes women asked to be sold into prostitution so they could make money to send home. She was told about brothels in Shanghai and Beijing where North Korean girls were injected with drugs so they couldn't run away.
After nearly two years with their captors, Park and her mother risked their lives to escape to Mongolia by crossing the frozen Gobi Desert using the stars to navigate.
Some critics have questioned her story but Park has apologized for any discrepancies, saying that at first she had not wanted to tell her full story but she was now determined that her book would be totally accurate.
In her memoir, Park urges China to end its policy of repatriating North Koreans as it fuels trafficking and slavery.
"I wish it had all never happened, and I never had to talk about it again. But I want everyone to know the shocking truth about human trafficking Uomo Nike Air Force 1 High Premium LE Nere Sail Scontate ," writes Park, whose speech at the One Young World Summit in Dublin last year has received over 2 million views on YouTube.
"If the Chinese government would end its policy of sending refugees back to North Korea, then the brokers would lose all their power to exploit and enslave these women."
Chinese marine surveillance ship Haijian No. 46 (L) tries to approach towards Japanese fishing boats (2nd and 3rd from front) while a Japan Coast Guard boat sails (front), in the East China Sea, near Diaoyu islands Nike Air Force 1 Low 07 LV8 Wolf Grigie Scontate , in this photo taken by Kyodo May 26, 2013. [PhotoAgencies]
The Foreign Ministry rebutted on Wednesday the latest Japanese accusation that China had "unilaterally" changed the status quo in the East China Sea.
The accusation is part of a draft of the Japanese government's 2015 foreign policy report, known as the blue book, set to be published by Tokyo. Its contents were revealed by Kyodo News.
"The facts about the Diaoyu Islands are clear," the spokeswoman Nike Air Force 1 Mid 07 Nere Scontate , Hua Chunying, said. "It is nobody but Japan itself who has taken unilateral measures to change the status quo and create trouble."
The draft also touches on Japanese aggression in the 1930s and 40s. Japan has held to a path of pacifism for 70 years since the end of World War II based on its "deep remorse" over the war, Kyodo quoted the draft as saying.
The move to include the expression "deep remorse" aims to give an impression that the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is facing history squarely, Kyodo quoted political pundits as saying.
Hua said the historical issues go to the root of China-Japan relations, and she urged Japan to establish credibility in Asia and the international community with sincere acts.
In the draft report Uomo Nike Air Force 1 Low Just Do It Bianche Scontate , China is criticized for its continued efforts to "unilaterally change the status quo at sea", while Japan remains determined to protect its territorial sovereignty, including seas and airspace, amid China's maritime "incursions" near the islands in the East China Sea, Kyodo reported.
Tokyo claimed to have "nationalized" part of the Diaoyu Islands in 2012 Nike Shox Gravity Scontate , triggering a deep chill in relations between the two neighbors that resulted in regular patrols of Chinese vessels in waters around the islands.
Hua said China will firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty as it continues to be committed to controlling and resolving the islands issue through dialogue and negotiation.
She urged Japan to face history squarely, respect facts and make constructive efforts to properly resolve the issue.