Group Project

Givenchy Ayisi-Boahene

Givenchy Ayisi-Boahene
Kyeun Kim
COM 1010
15 April 2018

” I have to give speech on behalf of the people who want to tell the world what is really going on ” (Park). Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector and human rights activist who escaped North Korea in 2007. From the very first word Yeonmi grabbed the audience’s attention, you could see on her face that the topic was something she struggled to talk about, but she immediately affirms it something she needs to do. She begins by branding North Korea as an “unimageable country”(Park) and provides evidence to support her claim in the body. Some examples include the fact that there is no internet access, there is no freedom of thought and it is the only country in the world where people can be executed for disobeying the government. Yeonmi establishes her credibility very well throughout the speech with statistics and personal experience. Being born in the country she experienced all the horrors first hand. Her experiences were organized chronologically starting from her fear of the dictator at four years old to her witness of her mother’s rape in China at fourteen. Yeonmi maintains eye contact with the audience the entire speech and maintains proper composure as she speaks. Her speech targeted human emotion by using phrases such as “Human Dignity” and “No one deserves to be oppressed because of their birth place”(Park). After clearly stating the issue she provided a concise three step start to the solution: 1. Educate yourself to raise awareness about human crises in North Korea,2. Support refugees escaping and 3. Petition China to stop repatriation. She ends her speech as strong as she started appealing it to all of humanity stating it not just the rights of North Koreans but “Our rights”. She also thanks the audience for listening to her story informing them how much of an impact just listening can do on working towards the solution.
The reason I chose Yeonmi’s speech is because I agree with main idea which is the need to focus on the people who are suffering in the dark instead of just focusing on the government. North Korea has become a big topic in the news recently, but the focus has been on the government. I have yet to hear anything about ending the suffering of the people. Maintaining human dignity and rights is something that has always interested me, and North Koreans are currently being deprived those rights and many of them don’t even know it. I choose to speak about this speech as a way of taking the first step of the solution, educating myself and spreading awareness. By observing Yeonmi I learned tone of voice is imperative when giving a speech, I’ve learned how proper eye contact is done and the importance of establishing credibility throughout the speech not just the beginning or at the end.I learned the conclusion needs to be impactful, it needs to be as strong as the introduction. There is nothing she needs to improve on, her speech was clear,concise and impactful.
Link: https://youtu.be/ufhKWfPSQOw