I never expected to be an author. I began writing notes about my life but I didn’t intend to write a book. After I began working as a staffer in the Freedom Speakers International (FSI) office, I thought about writing a book, but I had no confidence in myself to do so.FSI’s co-founders Casey Lartigue and Lee Eun-koo began encouraging me from the moment I joined the organization in 2015 to set goals for myself and to complete them. When they learned I had been writing notes about my life and that I could publish a book one day, they encouraged me without ever pressuring me.I went through some personal challenges several years ago so we stopped working on the book. After COVID-19 hit and my own personal situation changed, we began talking about the book again. While Casey has been the one with the vision and a motivational cheerleader for me, it has been Eun-koo who worked most closely with me to refine the book. We had many meetings to talk about the book and we reviewed the book.At last, my book is finished and has been released on Amazon 12 years after I escaped to South Korea. My book is about my life in both North and South Korea and many challenges I have overcome.
If I had not published this book then I believe that my life would have been more difficult. Writing this book has made me a stronger person. It was a form of therapy for me. I wanted to write about the things I had gone through and thanks to FSI, it became a book.I hope many people will read my story, but first of all, I wanted to write it for my lovely daughters who were born in South Korea. I want them to one day read about what their mother went through. I hope they will understand what I have written.More broadly, I hope people who need comfort will read my book. There are many people who have thought about suicide. My book might not help them directly, but they might get cheered up by thinking, “Even a person in this situation survived.”Then they might think, “This too, shall pass.”Don’t think about today’s suffering until tomorrow or the 슬롯놀이터 day after. Just endure one day at a time. After all, “tomorrow is another day.”
