In Order to Live

The Youth With A Mission group symbolizes Yeonmi’s personal shift from living in survival mode to actively rebuilding her identity, and her life, on her own terms. After reaching South Korea, she joins the Christian charity group—and travels with them to places like Texas and Costa Rica—as a way to honor those who helped her flee North Korea, a kind of moral debt she feels compelled to repay. But the experience is more transformative than Yeonmi imagined, as working alongside people who have known different forms of hardship shows her that suffering isn’t unique to North Koreans and that her own pain fits into a larger human story. In Costa Rica, especially, she discovers that compassion can move in both directions, as extending kindness to others opens the door to finally offering some to herself. The group’s work ultimately becomes a pathway to Yeonmi’s self-understanding, allowing her to see her life as connected, meaningful, and no longer defined solely by her escape from a totalitarian regime.