Dr. Lee Ae-ran gave a passionate speech today about her life growing up in North Korea, and the horrors that she had to endure to stay.
She eventually managed to escape to South Korea where she was able to finally obtain freedom, and Dr. Ae-ran wants to remind us in America to not let go of our freedoms, and to remember the promises we made to return to help North Korea become free the way we did in South Korea.
When questioned as to what she would consider the most important advice she could offer to Americans was she said, “freedom is the most precious thing for humans. Remember North Korea, and bring them freedom. May Freedom live forever!”
Dr. Ae-ran attributes the freedom and the improvements made to their communities to the strong alliance between the United States of America and South Korea, and wishes that relationship could be made even stronger as North Korea tries to infiltrate and regain control over them.
The road to freedom was filled with fear, mental abuse, and starvation. They were starved so often and for so long that once when she and her family found a bag of gasoline soaked flourl; they still used it to make something to eat.
“The camp was hell” says Dr. Lee Ae-ran. Just as the current 20 million people suffering under the Communist dictatorship of North Korea, Dr. Ae-ran describes the mental abuse, the humiliation she suffered every day, and how they were treated as criminals.
For 17 years, Dr. Ae-ran suffered endless torcher under the Communist rule of North Korea. 23 years ago she escaped by crossing a river into South Korea with her 4-month-old son on her back. He has since gone on to become a soldier who worked side by side with the United States military.
