ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Yeonmi Park - Human rights activist
North Korean defector Yeonmi Park is becoming a leading voice of oppressed people around the world.

Why you should listen

Yeonmi Park's escape from North Korea has given the world a window into the lives of its people. At the 2014 Oslo Freedom Forum and the One Young World Summit in Dublin, Park became an international phenomenon, delivering passionate and deeply personal speeches about the brutality of the North Korean regime. Her address to One Young World on the horrors of detention camps, political executions and sex trafficking has been viewed over 320 million times on YouTube. The BBC named her one of their "Top Global Women."

In 2017, Park joined the Tory Burch Foundation's Embrace Ambition campaign, a global effort to dispel the double standard of ambition as a positive trait in men and a negative trait in women. Her searing memoir, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom, was released in the fall 2015, and now she's urging the world to recognize the oppressed people of Kim Jong-Un's reign. She believes that change will come through young people like herself, whose exposure to capitalism and Western media is eroding the authority of the Kim dynasty.

Currently a student at Columbia University, Park has published an op-ed about North Korea's "black market generation” in the Washington Post and has been featured on CNN, CNBC and the BBC, as well as in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. She serves on the executive board of directors of the Human Rights Foundation, the world's preeminent organization devoted to disrupting dictatorships.

More profile about the speaker
Yeonmi Park | Speaker | TED.com
TED2019

Yeonmi Park: What I learned about freedom after escaping North Korea

Yeonmi Park: Kako sam pobjegla iz Sjeverne Koreje i pronašla slobodu

Filmed:
2,371,462 views

"Sjeverna Koreja je nezamisliva", kaže aktivistica za ljudska prava Yeonmi Park, koja je pobjegla iz te zemlje kao desetogodišnjakinja. Uz mučnu priču o svom djetinjstvu, govori o krhkosti slobode i pokazuje kako postići promjenu čak i iz najmračnijih mjesta na svijetu.
- Human rights activist
North Korean defector Yeonmi Park is becoming a leading voice of oppressed people around the world. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
I was bornrođen in 1993
in the northernsjeverni partdio of NorthSjever KoreaKoreja,
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Rođena sam 1993. godine
u sjevernom dijelu Sjeverne Koreje,
00:18
in a towngrad calledzvao HyesanHyesan,
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u gradu Hyesanu,
00:21
whichkoji is on the bordergranica with ChinaKina.
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na granici s Kinom.
00:24
I had lovingkoji voli parentsroditelji
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Odrastala sam uz brižne roditelje
00:27
and one olderstariji sistersestra.
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i stariju sestru.
00:31
Before I was even 10 yearsgodina oldstar,
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Prije moje desete godine
00:34
my fatherotac was sentposlao to a laborrad campkamp
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otac je poslan u radni kamp
00:37
for engagingprivlačan in illegalnezakonit tradingtrgovački.
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jer se bavio nezakonitom trgovinom.
00:41
Now, by "illegalnezakonit tradingtrgovački" --
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"Nezakonita prodaja" bila je
00:45
he was sellingprodaja clogsklompe, sugaršećer,
riceriža and laterkasnije copperbakar
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prodaja klompi, šećera,
riže i kasnije bakra
00:51
to feedstočna hrana us.
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kako bi nas prehranio.
00:55
In 2007, my sistersestra and I
decidedodlučio to escapepobjeći.
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Sestra i ja odlučile smo
pobjeći 2007. godine.
01:01
She was 16 yearsgodina oldstar,
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Ona je imala 16 godina,
01:04
and I was 13 yearsgodina oldstar.
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a ja 13.
01:08
I need you to understandrazumjeti
what the wordriječ "escapepobjeći" meanssredstva
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Želim da razumijete što znači "pobjeći"
01:13
in the contextkontekst of NorthSjever KoreaKoreja.
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u kontekstu Sjeverne Koreje.
01:17
We were all starvinggladan,
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Bili smo gladni,
01:20
and hungerglad meanssredstva deathsmrt in NorthSjever KoreaKoreja.
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a glad znači smrt u Sjevernoj Koreji.
01:25
So it was the only optionopcija for us.
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To je za nas bila jedina opcija.
01:29
I didn't even understandrazumjeti
the conceptkoncept of escapepobjeći,
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Nisam razumjela značenje bijega,
01:33
but I could see the lightssvjetla
from ChinaKina at night,
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ali vidjela sam svjetla Kine po noći
01:38
and I wonderedpitala if I go where the lightsvjetlo is,
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i kad bih mogla doći do tih svjetala,
01:43
I mightmoć be ableu stanju to find a bowlzdjela of riceriža.
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možda bih tamo pronašla tanjur riže.
01:48
It's not like we had a grandveličanstven planplan or mapskarata.
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Nije da smo imale
velike planove ili karte.
01:52
We did not know anything
about what was going to happendogoditi se.
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Nismo znale što će se dogoditi.
01:57
ImagineZamislite your apartmentapartman
buildingzgrada caughtzatečen firevatra.
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Zamislite da požar zahvati vašu zgradu.
02:00
I mean, what would you do?
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Mislim, što biste učinili?
02:02
Would you stayboravak there to be burnedspaljen,
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Biste li ostali tamo i izgorjeli
02:05
or would you jumpskok off out of the windowprozor
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ili biste iskočili kroz prozor
02:07
and see what happensdogađa se?
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da vidite što će se dogoditi?
02:09
That's what we did.
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To smo mi napravile.
02:11
We jumpedskočio out of the housekuća
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Iskočile smo iz kuće
02:14
insteadumjesto of the firevatra.
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da pobjegnemo od požara.
02:17
NorthSjever KoreaKoreja is unimaginablenezamisliv.
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Sjeverna Koreja je nezamisliva.
02:22
It's very hardteško for me
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Teško mi je
02:25
when people askpitati me
what it feelsosjeća like to liveživjeti there.
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kad me ljudi pitaju kako je živjeti tamo.
02:30
To be honestpošten,
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Iskreno,
02:32
I tell you:
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kažem vam:
02:33
you can't even imaginezamisliti it.
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ne možete to ni zamisliti.
02:39
The wordsriječi in any languagejezik can't describeopisati,
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To se ne može opisati
riječima bilo kojeg jezika;
02:43
because it's a totallypotpuno differentdrugačiji planetplaneta,
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radi se o potpuno drukčijem planetu.
02:47
as you cannotNe možete imaginezamisliti
your life on MarsMars right now.
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Kao što ne možete zamisliti
život na Marsu.
02:53
For exampleprimjer, the wordriječ "love"
has only one meaningznačenje:
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Na primjer, riječ "ljubav"
ima samo jedno značenje:
02:59
love for the DearDraga LeaderVođa.
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ljubav prema dragom Vođi.
03:03
There's no conceptkoncept
of romanticromantičan love in NorthSjever KoreaKoreja.
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Tamo nema koncepta romantike.
03:09
And if you don't know the wordsriječi,
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A ako ne znate riječi,
03:12
that meanssredstva you don't
understandrazumjeti the conceptkoncept,
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to znači da ne razumijete koncept
03:17
and thereforestoga, you don't even realizeostvariti
that conceptkoncept is even a possibilitymogućnost.
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i stoga ne znate da
taj koncept uopće može postojati.
03:25
Let me give you anotherjoš exampleprimjer.
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Dat ću vam još jedan primjer.
03:29
GrowingUzgoj up in NorthSjever KoreaKoreja,
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Odrastajući u Sjevernoj Koreji,
03:31
we trulyuistinu believedvjerovao that our DearDraga LeaderVođa
is an almightySvemogući god
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vjerovali smo da je dragi Vođa
svemogući bog
03:37
who can even readčitati my thoughtsmisli.
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koji može čitati moje misli.
03:40
I was even afraiduplašen to think in NorthSjever KoreaKoreja.
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Bojala sam se misliti u Sjevernoj Koreji.
03:45
We are told that he's starvinggladan for us,
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Govore nam da on za nas gladuje,
03:47
and he's workingrad tirelesslyneumorno for us,
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da neprekidno radi za nas,
03:50
and my heartsrce just brokerazbio for him.
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i srce mi je bilo slomljeno zbog njega.
03:53
When I escapedpobjegao to SouthJug KoreaKoreja,
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Kada sam pobjegla u Južnu Koreju,
03:56
people told me that
he was actuallyzapravo a dictatordiktator,
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ljudi su mi rekli
da je on ustvari diktator,
04:00
he had carsautomobili,
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da ima automobile,
04:02
manymnogi, manymnogi resortsTuristička naselja,
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brojna odmarališta
04:03
and he had an ultraluxuriousultraluksuriozni life.
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i da vodi iznimno luksuzan život.
04:08
And then I rememberzapamtiti
looking at a pictureslika of him,
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I sjećam se da sam pogledala njegovu sliku
04:12
realizingrealizirati for the first time
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i po prvi put shvatila
04:16
that he is the largestnajveći guy in the pictureslika.
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da je on najveći na toj slici.
04:19
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
04:22
And it hithit me.
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Tu sam shvatila.
04:23
FinallyKonačno, I realizedshvatio he wasn'tnije starvinggladan.
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Shvatila sam da on ne gladuje.
04:29
But I was never ableu stanju to see that before,
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No to nisam nikada prije shvaćala
04:32
untildo someonenetko told me that he was fatmast.
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dok mi netko nije rekao da je debeo.
04:36
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
04:37
Really, someonenetko had to teachučiti me
that he was fatmast.
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Morali su mi to reći.
04:42
If you have never practicedprakticira
criticalkritično thinkingmišljenje,
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Ako nikada niste naučili
kritički razmišljati,
04:46
then you simplyjednostavno see
what you're told to see.
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jednostavno vidite ono
što vam kažu da vidite.
04:52
The biggestnajveći questionpitanje alsotakođer people askpitati me
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Najjače pitanje koje mi ljudi postavljaju:
04:55
is: "Why is there no revolutionrevolucija
insideiznutra NorthSjever KoreaKoreja?
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"Zašto u Sjevernoj Koreji
nema revolucije?"
04:58
Are we dumbglup?
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Jesmo li glupi?
05:01
Why is there no revolutionrevolucija
for 70 yearsgodina of this oppressionugnjetavanje?"
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Zašto nema revolucije nakon
70 godina tlačenja?"
05:07
And I say:
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Odgovaram:
05:10
If you don't know you're a slaverob,
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Ako ne znate da ste rob,
05:13
if you don't know
you're isolatedizolirani or oppressedpotlačeni,
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ako ne znate da ste izolirani, potlačeni,
05:18
how do you fightborba to be freebesplatno?
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kako da se borite za slobodu?
05:22
I mean, if you know you're isolatedizolirani,
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Mislim, ako znate da ste izolirani,
05:25
that meanssredstva you are not isolatedizolirani.
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to znači da niste.
05:28
Not knowingpoznavanje is the truepravi
definitiondefinicija of isolationizolacija,
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Neznanje je prava definicija izolacije,
05:33
and that's why I never knewznao
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i zato nikada nisam znala
05:35
I was isolatedizolirani when I was in NorthSjever KoreaKoreja.
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da sam izolirana u Sjevernoj Koreji.
05:39
I literallydoslovce thought I was
in the centercentar of the universesvemir.
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Doslovno sam mislila da sam
u središtu svemira.
05:45
So here is my ideaideja worthvrijedan spreadingširenje:
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Ovo je moja ideja vrijedna širenja:
05:52
a lot of people think
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mnogi misle da znaju
05:54
humansljudi inherentlyinherentno know
what is right and wrongpogrešno,
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što je ispravno, što neispravno,
05:58
the differencerazlika betweenizmeđu
justicepravda and injusticenepravda,
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razliku između pravde i nepravde,
06:03
what we deservezaslužiti and we don't deservezaslužiti.
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što zaslužujemo, a što ne.
06:07
I tell them: BSBS.
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Ja na to kažem: s*anje.
06:10
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
06:11
(ApplausePljesak)
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(Pljesak)
06:18
Everything,
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Sve,
06:21
everything mustmora be taughtučio,
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sve se mora učiti,
06:24
includinguključujući compassionsamilost.
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uključujući suosjećanje.
06:27
If I see someonenetko dyingumiranje
on the streetulica right now,
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Ako na ulici vidim da osoba umire,
06:34
I will do anything to saveuštedjeti that personosoba.
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učinit ću sve da je spasim.
06:39
But when I was in NorthSjever KoreaKoreja,
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Ali kada sam bila u Sjevernoj Koreji,
06:41
I saw people dyingumiranje
and deadmrtav on the streetsulice.
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vidjela sam ljude kako umiru na ulici.
06:47
I feltosjećala nothing.
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Nisam ništa osjećala.
06:49
Not because I'm a psychopathpsihopat,
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Ne zato što sam psihopat,
06:52
but because I never learnednaučeno
the conceptkoncept of compassionsamilost.
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već zato što nisam znala za suosjećanje.
06:57
Only, I feltosjećala compassionsamilost,
empathysuosjecanje and sympathysimpatija in my heartsrce
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Osjetila sam suosjećanje i empatiju u srcu
07:02
after I learnednaučeno the wordriječ
"compassionsamilost" and the conceptkoncept,
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tek nakon što sam naučila
riječ "suosjećanje"
07:05
and I feel them now.
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i tek sada to osjećam.
07:10
Now I liveživjeti in the UnitedUjedinjeni StatesDržava
as a freebesplatno personosoba.
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Sada živim slobodno u SAD-u.
07:16
(ApplausePljesak)
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(Pljesak)
07:17
Thank you.
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Hvala.
07:19
(ApplausePljesak)
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(Pljesak)
07:24
And recentlynedavno,
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A nedavno,
07:26
the leadervođa of the freebesplatno countryzemlja,
our PresidentPredsjednik TrumpAdut,
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vođa slobodne zemlje, predsjednik Trump,
07:30
metsastali with my formerprijašnji god.
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susreo se s mojim prijašnjim bogom.
07:35
And he decidedodlučio humanljudski rightsprava
is not importantvažno enoughdovoljno
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Odlučio je da ljudska prava
nisu dovoljno važna
07:39
to includeuključiti in his agendasdnevni redovi,
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da ih uključi u svoj raspored
07:43
and he did not talk about it.
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i nije o njima pričao.
07:47
And it scaresplaši me.
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To me plaši.
07:50
We liveživjeti in a worldsvijet right now
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Danas živimo u svijetu
07:54
where a dictatordiktator can be praisedpohvalio je
for executingizvršenja his uncleujak,
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u kojem se diktatora hvali
što je ubio svog ujaka,
08:00
for killingubijanje his halfpola brotherbrat,
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ubio svog polubrata,
08:02
killingubijanje thousandstisuća of NorthSjever KoreansKorejci.
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ubio na tisuće Sjevernokorejaca.
08:06
And that was worthydostojan of praisepohvala.
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To je zaslužilo pohvalu.
08:10
And alsotakođer it madenapravljen me think:
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Zbog toga sam pomislila:
08:14
perhapsmožda we all need to be taughtučio
something newnovi about freedomsloboda now.
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možda svi moramo naučiti
nešto novo o slobodi.
08:24
FreedomSloboda is fragilelomljiv.
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Sloboda je krhka.
08:29
I don't want to alarmalarm you, but it is.
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Ne želim vas plašiti, ali jest.
08:33
It only tookuzeo threetri generationsgeneracije
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U samo tri generacije
08:36
to make NorthSjever KoreaKoreja into
GeorgeGeorge Orwell'sOrwell je "1984."
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Sjeverna Koreja postala je kao iz
Orwellovog romana "1984.".
08:42
It tookuzeo only threetri generationsgeneracije.
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U samo tri generacije.
08:48
If we don't fightborba for humanljudski rightsprava
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Ako se ne borimo za ljudska prava,
08:52
for the people who are oppressedpotlačeni
right now who don't have a voiceglas,
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za ljude koji su potlačeni
i koji nemaju pravo glasa,
08:56
as freebesplatno people here,
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odavde, kao slobodni ljudi,
09:00
who will fightborba for us
when we are not freebesplatno?
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tko će se boriti
kada mi ne budemo slobodni?
09:04
MachinesStrojevi? AnimalsŽivotinje? I don't know.
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Strojevi? Životinje? Ne znam.
09:11
I think it's wonderfulpredivan
that we carebriga about climateklima changepromijeniti,
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Mislim da je sjajno
da brinemo o klimatskim promjenama,
09:17
animalživotinja rightsprava, genderrod equalityjednakost,
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životinjskim pravima,
ravnopravnosti spolova,
09:19
all of these things.
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svemu tome.
09:21
The factčinjenica that we carebriga
about animals'životinja rightsprava,
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Činjenica da marimo za prava životinja,
09:24
that meanssredstva that's
how beautifullijep our heartsrce is,
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to znači da imamo prekrasnu dušu,
09:28
that we carebriga about someonenetko
who cannotNe možete speakgovoriti for themselvesse.
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da marimo za nekoga
tko se ne može sam braniti.
09:32
And NorthSjever KoreansKorejci right now
cannotNe možete speakgovoriti for themselvesse.
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A trenutačno se Sjevernokorejci
ne mogu braniti.
09:38
They don't have internetInternet
in the 21stst centurystoljeće.
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U 21. stoljeću nemaju internet.
09:42
We don't have electricityelektricitet,
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Nemamo struje,
09:45
and it is the darkestnajtamnije placemjesto
on earthZemlja right now.
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to je najmračnije mjesto na Zemlji.
09:50
Now I want to say something
to my fellowkolega NorthSjever KoreansKorejci
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Želim reći nešto svojim
Sjevernokorejcima
09:54
who are livingživot in that darknesstama.
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koji sada žive u tom mraku.
09:58
They mightmoć not believe this,
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Možda neće vjerovati,
09:59
but I want to tell them
that an alternativealternativa life is possiblemoguće.
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ali želim im reći
da je drukčiji život moguć.
10:04
Be freebesplatno.
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Budite slobodni.
10:07
From my experienceiskustvo,
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Prema mom iskustvu,
10:11
literallydoslovce anything is possiblemoguće.
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doslovno sve je moguće.
10:16
I was boughtkupio,
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Kupljena sam
10:17
I was soldprodan as a slaverob.
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i prodana kao ropkinja.
10:20
But now I'm here,
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Ali sada sam ovdje
10:22
and that is why I believe in miraclesčuda.
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i zato vjerujem u čuda.
10:27
The one thing that I learnednaučeno from historypovijest
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Iz povijesti sam naučila jednu stvar,
10:30
is that nothing is foreverzauvijek in this worldsvijet.
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a to je da ništa na svijetu nije zauvijek.
10:35
And that is why we have
everysvaki reasonrazlog to be hopefulpun nade.
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I zato imamo razloga nadati se.
10:41
Thank you.
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Hvala.
10:42
(ApplausePljesak)
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(Pljesak)
Translated by Marija Kostović
Reviewed by Sanda Liker

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Yeonmi Park - Human rights activist
North Korean defector Yeonmi Park is becoming a leading voice of oppressed people around the world.

Why you should listen

Yeonmi Park's escape from North Korea has given the world a window into the lives of its people. At the 2014 Oslo Freedom Forum and the One Young World Summit in Dublin, Park became an international phenomenon, delivering passionate and deeply personal speeches about the brutality of the North Korean regime. Her address to One Young World on the horrors of detention camps, political executions and sex trafficking has been viewed over 320 million times on YouTube. The BBC named her one of their "Top Global Women."

In 2017, Park joined the Tory Burch Foundation's Embrace Ambition campaign, a global effort to dispel the double standard of ambition as a positive trait in men and a negative trait in women. Her searing memoir, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom, was released in the fall 2015, and now she's urging the world to recognize the oppressed people of Kim Jong-Un's reign. She believes that change will come through young people like herself, whose exposure to capitalism and Western media is eroding the authority of the Kim dynasty.

Currently a student at Columbia University, Park has published an op-ed about North Korea's "black market generation” in the Washington Post and has been featured on CNN, CNBC and the BBC, as well as in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. She serves on the executive board of directors of the Human Rights Foundation, the world's preeminent organization devoted to disrupting dictatorships.

More profile about the speaker
Yeonmi Park | Speaker | TED.com