North Korea is a religion. We are told that Kim is a god and that he knows what you are thinking and how many hairs are on your head. It is the only country which talks about 'thought crime' - even thinking is a crime.

In this quote, "North Korea is a religion. We are told that Kim is a god and that he knows what you are thinking and how many hairs are on your head. It is the only country which talks about 'thought crime' - even thinking is a crime.", Park Yeon-mi compares the totalitarian state of North Korea to a religion, highlighting the extreme level of control exerted by the regime. She refers to the leader, Kim Jong-un, as being worshipped almost like a god, where the state's ideology and his authority are presented as absolute and infallible. The comparison suggests that the government and its cult of personality have transformed North Korea into a society where loyalty and belief in the leader are enforced to an almost religious degree.

Yeon-mi points to the state's surveillance and manipulation of the minds of its citizens, suggesting that the belief in Kim Jong-un’s god-like powers is imposed not only through physical control but also through psychological means. The idea that Kim supposedly knows every detail about individuals, including something as intimate as how many hairs are on their heads, underscores the extent to which the government infiltrates even the most personal aspects of life. This claim emphasizes the totalitarian nature of the regime, where privacy and personal freedom are nonexistent.

The mention of "thought crime" further reveals the oppressive reality in North Korea, where even private thoughts are subject to state scrutiny. This is a direct reference to the idea that in such a regime, citizens are not just punished for their actions, but also for their inner beliefs or opinions that deviate from the official ideology. In North Korea, dissent is not limited to public actions—it can be punished in the form of thought crimes, making it a society where conformity is enforced to the point of suppressing independent thinking.

Park Yeon-mi’s statement highlights the dehumanizing effects of living under a regime where the state, rather than religion, assumes a divine role. It underscores the extent to which the North Korean government exercises control over not just the behavior but also the thoughts and beliefs of its people. The comparison to religion emphasizes how deeply entrenched the cult of personality is in North Korea, positioning the state as the ultimate source of authority, akin to a religious institution dictating every aspect of an individual's life.