Ep. 178 - Freedom’s Heroes ft. Ji Seong-Ho
Episode Stats
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Summary
On a special Independence Day episode, we will be joined by North Korean defector Ji Song-ho to discuss his 6,000-mile journey on crutches from North Korea to freedom. Then we ll talk about the rise of socialism in America, particularly among millennials. Finally, in a new segment called This Is America, Just Like That Stupid Song, but Like Good, we discuss some of the most incredible heroes and stories of the Revolutionary War that you probably haven t heard of.
Transcript
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On a special Independence Day episode, we will be joined by North Korean defector Ji Song-ho
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to discuss his 6,000-mile journey on crutches from North Korea to freedom.
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Then, we'll talk about the rise of socialism in America, particularly among millennials.
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Finally, in a new segment called This Is America, just like that stupid song, but like good,
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we discuss some of the most incredible heroes and stories of the Revolutionary War
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that you probably haven't heard of. I'm Michael Knowles, and this is The Michael Knowles Show.
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This is The Michael Knowles, and this is The Michael Knowles.
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This guest does not need any introduction, but just to warm you up a little bit in case you missed it.
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Here's a clip from the State of the Union, President Trump talking about probably the most heroic person I'm ever going to meet, Ji Sung Ho.
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We are joined by one more witness to the ominous nature of this regime.
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In 1996, Sung Ho was a starving boy in North Korea.
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One day he tried to steal coal from a railroad car to barter for a few scraps of food, which were very hard to get.
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In the process, he passed out on the train tracks, exhausted from hunger.
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He then endured multiple amputations without anything to dull the pain or the hurt.
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His brother and sister gave what little food they had to help him recover and ate dirt themselves, permanently stunting their own growth.
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Later, he was tortured by North Korean authorities after returning from a brief visit to China.
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His tormentors wanted to know if he'd met any Christians.
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Sung Ho traveled thousands of miles on crutches all across China and Southeast Asia to freedom.
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His father was caught trying to escape and was tortured to death.
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Today, he lives in Seoul, where he rescues other defectors and broadcasts into North Korea what the regime fears most, the truth.
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But Sung Ho, I understand you still keep those old crutches as a reminder of how far you've come.
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Your great sacrifice is an inspiration to us all.
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Obviously, it's the most memorable part of that entire State of the Union.
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I sat down for 40 minutes or an hour with Ji Sung Ho.
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We're going to air this interview in two parts.
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I must say, too, when we were doing the interview, I had a live translation going on in my ear.
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Only after we redid the translation and re-recorded it later did I realize that I was just hearing a paraphrasing of what was going on.
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And you'll see that even the reactions alone are pretty telling.
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But actually, what was being said that I couldn't hear is even that much more horrifying.
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This is the real, true story, first-person account of what goes on in North Korea and in communist governments throughout history and around the world.
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Without any more introduction, how do you beat an introduction from the President of the United States?
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You're probably the most heroic person I'll ever meet in my life.
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I want to talk about your personal story in a second.
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People who are alive today don't have really an experience of communism.
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You have this very, very vivid experience of it.
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How would you describe communism to people who are living in the West, in free countries?
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I think that communism is a horrible idea that brainwashes its citizens.
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They talk about the happiness of living together in harmony by preaching about equality.
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In reality, however, I believe that communism is where the royalty and the higher-ups live in extravagance by exploiting the people.
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It's hard for people to see now because you have prosthetics and everything.
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But you were grievously injured as a young teenager.
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North Korea is not known for its good treatment of people with disabilities.
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And how did you survive in North Korea when you had them?
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As you may know, I do not have my left hand or my left leg.
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Because in North Korea, people could not eat and had to scavenge and do anything in order to feed themselves.
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Even though I should have been in school, I would steal coals from the supply chain so that I had money to buy corn or other supplies.
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I continued to do this until I was 14 years old.
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One day, I fell from a running train while I was stealing coals.
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My left arm and my left leg were crushed under the 60-ton train.
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I was forced to go into operation in the hospital without any proper anesthetics.
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In addition, I had to endure the immeasurable amount of pain for seven months within that hospital.
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However, in North Korea, disabled people are expected to live quietly.
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They do not want the disabled people to go outside and show that they are miserable.
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They did not want the outside world to know that they have problems with the human rights of their citizens.
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Therefore, I was in the center of discrimination, where the North Koreans wanted me to die quietly.
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From what I've read, they put people with Down syndrome away.
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They don't give treatment to people with disabilities.
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And you, of course, sustained your injuries because you were too hungry.
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You fainted as you were trying to get little scraps of food.
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Was it this injury that convinced you that you had to flee North Korea?
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What convinced you that you finally had to get out?
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You and as much of your family as could get out.
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I know you grew up during the famines of the 1990s.
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What motivated you and said, I've got to get to freedom?
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I realized that I had to escape after I became disabled.
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I realized that North Korea is not a land of happiness and equality.
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Even though the disabled people need societal protection and the special provision from the government,
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I realized that living in North Korea as a disabled person is nearly impossible.
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At one point, I thought about ending my own life rather than living under such harsh conditions and discrimination.
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I kept thinking about this until, in the year 2000, I went to China to beg for food.
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The Chinese police officers assaulted me and said that retards like me should die off and stop embarrassing the nation.
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During all the torments and the beatings by the police,
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I was saddened because this is not how humans should treat one another.
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I read somewhere, because I know that you're Christian,
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and I know that you, I believe you've said that the Lord's Prayer,
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the Our Father sustained you during some of this torture from the North Korean regime.
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What role did it play in your decision to flee,
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fleeing on those famous crutches with this disability,
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you are either publicly executed or sent to political internment camps.
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And when asked about who is God in North Korea,
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I was exposed to the existence of Christianity.
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I then realized that there is a higher being other than Kim Jong-il
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and prayed daily in North Korea in midst of the torment.
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I believe that He would be the one to help poor people like me to escape.
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Even though it seemed impossible due to me not having one hand and a leg,
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Six years later, I found an opportunity for me to escape.