Yeonmi Park | Yeonmi Park and Ezekiel | Source: Getty Images | Instagram/yeonmi_park
Following a difficult life in North Korea and China, Yeonmi Park relocated to the States, where she found love with her husband, Ezekiel. Their shared values initially brought the former couple together, but a growing rift led to the end of their marriage.
Yeonmi Park has made a name for herself as a human rights activist after courageously sharing her harrowing life story as a child who battled starvation in North Korea and human trafficking in China.
However, her life improved once she found freedom in America and met her husband, Ezekiel. The couple's love story was accidental, and even though their relationship ended in divorce, Yeonmi Park and her ex-husband are committed to co-parenting their child.
Yeonmi Park during her appearance on Candance Owens' show on November 8, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee. | Source: Getty Images
Yeonmi Park and Her Former Husband Bonded over Their 'Common Longing for Meaning'
In her book, "While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America," Yeonmi revealed that she and her ex-husband, Ezekiel, were brought together by their "common longing for meaning" and to live "rewarding lives."
While it remains unclear where Yeonmi and her husband tied the knot, she took to Facebook on January 4, 2020, to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. "Time really flies too quickly," she captioned the post in part before revealing she looked forward to the day she could take Ezekiel to her home country to meet her friends and family.
Yeonmi Park speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong Luncheon on March 4, 2017. | Source: Getty Images
In April 2020, Yeonmi shared a picture of her and her husband in New York City and joked that date nights had become a foreign concept due to the pandemic. In the caption, she further opened up about her and her husband's relationship and shared:
"This one is one of my favorites since it is where we had an accidental first date. We went out to eat that day as friends and never knew it was going to develop more than that. Life is full of surprises."
After relocating to America, Yeonmi enrolled at Columbia University — joining Barack Obama, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles on the university's celebrity alum list — where she studied Economics and lived in Chicago with her husband and their child.
Yeonmi Park and Her Ex-husband Separated in 2020 Following a Rift in Their Marriage
In her book, Yeonmi detailed how she realized her relationship with her husband was unraveling in 2019 following a rift in their marriage. "The bonds that had brought us so close together when we first married had begun to perceptibly loosen [...]," she shared.
The activist acknowledged that while divorcing can be tricky, the son the former couple shared added a layer of complication. However, she and her ex were committed to co-parenting their son and agreed to live in the same city, be equally involved in his life, and instill the values they still shared in him.
Yeonmi Park Revealed That She Is Afraid for Her and Her Ex-husband's Child
In 2018, Yeonmi turned to Instagram to take a trip down memory lane about her difficult life and shared that she never knew motherhood would be in the card for her following her grueling childhood. She tweeted:
"Life is a miracle. I never knew I would survive starvation and become a mother of this beautiful angel. No matter what, let's not lose hope. We have more things to be grateful for [...]."
However, in 2022, Yeonmi filmed an emotional video where she revealed that she woke up in the middle of the night, terrified, because her son was allegedly being taught the ideologies she tried to escape in North Korea.
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