This post was updated Nov. 18 at 11:08 p.m.

Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of sex trafficking that some readers may find disturbing.

Yeonmi Park said she had never feared for her life as a conservative speaker in America – the country she once lauded for its freedom.

But after the death of her friend and right-wing conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, she said her feelings changed.

Park – a North Korean defector and public speaker – spoke Wednesday at a lecture hosted by the UCLA chapter of Young America’s Foundation, a youth conservative organization. About 60 people attended the event, which was held in Kaplan Hall.

During the lecture, Park described her childhood in North Korea, her escape and her criticisms of current United States politics. The YAF chapter at UCLA has seen an increase in membership since Kirk’s death, said chapter chair and fourth-year political science student Andrew Escanuelas.

Park has authored two memoirs centered on her experiences and perspectives as a North Korean defector – one about defecting and another warning that “wokeness” could lead to authoritarianism. Since 2014, journalists from The Diplomat and The Washington Post have cast doubts on some of Park’s stories about North Korea.

“Even if you go say something stupid out there, you’re not going to be executed,” she said in her lecture. “Now, I saw in America there are many people who believe that words are violence.”

She added that killing someone over words perceived as violent is at “the very heart of North Korean ideology.”

Park, who was born in North Korea in 1993, said she experienced a difficult childhood marked by poor living conditions and government suppression.

“That’s when I realized no matter what it took, I had to escape from this hellhole,” she said.

A former aerospace engineering student who was granted partial anonymity out of fear of retaliation from his employer said he was astonished by Park’s story.

“It’s kind of like, ‘What are the things that people don’t value here in America?’” he said. “’What is it something that they (immigrants) value the most?’ And I think that’s something I wanted to hear more about.”

Park said at age 13, she and her mother met a woman who led them across the Yalu River into China. After arriving in China, she and her mother were then sex trafficked, she added.

According to the Washington Post, Park initially told this story differently, excluding the sex trafficking claim and saying that she left the country with both of her parents. Park had previously blamed the discrepancies in language and translation errors, according to the Post.

Park said she then met a Christian missionary from South Korea who rescued North Korean defectors. She added that she then moved to South Korea and in 2016, immigrated to the U.S.

“I wanted to go somewhere where my background didn’t matter,” Park said. “The only thing that mattered was what my characters are, how hard I work.”

Several critics have disputed the accuracy of Park’s stories about North Korea. A 2023 Washington Post investigation said many of her stories told in recent years differ from what she had initially shared on South Korean television shortly after defecting.

Park said she believes people doubt her stories because of her conservative ideology.

“Once I go the other side, they (liberals) have every problem with my credibility,” she said.

Kevin Novokhatsky, a UCLA alumnus who attended the event, said he has had an interest in the topic of North Korea since he was a child, sparked by his family’s stories about life in Soviet-occupied Ukraine.

“Anyone with a communist background or living in a communist country is always interesting to me,” Novokhatsky said. “In America, we’re so privileged and lucky and fortunate to live in this country and to not have to deal with a lot of the hardships that I hear from my parents or grandparents.”

The North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 facilitated funding for humanitarian aid and refugee admission for North Koreans into the U.S. Since then, 224 North Korean refugees have been admitted to the U.S., according to the Refugee Processing Center, which is run by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

“It’s very hard for a North Korean defector to actually come to the United States, as we see with the 200 that are only here,” Escanuelas said.

Park enrolled at Columbia University, where she alleged that her professors blamed “greedy capitalism” and white men for the world’s flaws.

“I was literally thinking, ‘You’ve got to be a psychopath if you literally believe this, right?’” Park said. “Before capitalism, humans – all of us, most of us – were starving.”

Audience members formed a line to ask Park questions after her speech. Many were turned away because of the large volume of people.

One attendee asked if Park gets paid by conservative organizations to spread their messages online. Park responded saying she has always identified as a libertarian with conservative values.

Escanuelas said while student interest rose for YAF after Kirk’s death, the club has also been hassled by students who disagree with their viewpoints.

“There’s more of an emboldened spirit with those who oppose us,” Escanuelas said.

The former aerospace engineering student said Kirk’s death underscores the importance of freedom of expression, which he believes Americans take for granted.

“There’s other countries out there that there’s no freedom, there’s no expression,” he said. “We got to understand our differences, and we got to understand that we have different ideas. (Let’s) just not kill over our own ideas.”