In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom

After her father leaves the hospital, Yeonmi is confronted with the task of telling him he does not have much longer to live. She learns that after he defected, his family was interrogated and some were tortured. He expresses the wish to go back to North Korea so as not to become a financial burden to his young daughter, but she refuses to send him back.

In 2008, Yeonmi’s financial situation takes another turn for the worse. With the onset of the Beijing Olympics and increasing international pressure to improve human rights, the Chinese government starts a crackdown on the bride trafficking business. Hongwei has an increasingly difficult time turning a profit and occasionally takes out his anger on Yeonmi. He laments that he must take care of not only her, but also her mother and her sick father. Yeonmi is stuck between helping him conduct his business and staying home to take care of her dying father. They gather the money to take one final family picture together. When Yeonmi’s father dies, his eyes remain open, which, according to North Korean custom, means he has unfinished business in this world. Yeonmi believes this to be a result of her sister’s disappearance and is filled with determination to find Eunmi once more.