Good morning Principal, teacher and fellow schoolmates,
I am Lin Sin Yee from 4C. Recently, I have read a book titled “In Order To Live”. This book vividly shows various problems in North Korean society and the hardships and difficulties of Yeomni Park’s escape through her personal experience.
Yeomni Park grew up in Hyesan, North Korea. The book mainly tells the story of Yeomni and her mother's escape from North Korea to China, Mongolia and finally arriving in South Korea. To Yeomni, never was it an easy decision to leave her home country. Leaving North Korea means she had to abandon her sick father, risk their property and personal safety of being caught by North Korean soldiers and deported and tortured and countless other potential situations.
After reading this book, I deeply felt the cruelty and isolation of North Korea. In North Korea, the North Koreans have neither freedom of speech, democratic rights nor basic rights to survive. Yeomni‘s experience shocked me deeply that there are still many people in this world living in extreme hardship and injustice. Hardly can I imagine the life of Yeomni.
I also learn that we should never give up. Yeomin experienced various difficulties and setbacks, but she never gave up her dream of escape. From her experience, I understand whenever I encounter difficulties, I have to be strong enough to face them. After overcoming the difficulties and looking back, I find that there are still many beautiful sceneries waiting for me ahead.
In fact, our life journey is full of hardship. We tend to give up and deem that we are failures. Never can we succeed when we have this mindset. Where there is a will, there is a way. I hope all of us can be inspired by Yeomni who is determined to overcome her hardship. This book is really worth reading and I highly recommend this book to all of you.
Thank you.