article_snippet: North Korean defector Pak Mi-ok ended up going without water during a meal in the South because North Korean defector Pak Mi-ok was too shy to admit
article_snippet: North Korean defector Pak Mi-ok didn't understand the term 'self-service'
article_snippet: When Pak Mi-ok first arrived in South Korea after Pak Mi-ok defection in 2002, Pak Mi-ok was told by a waitress at a restaurant that water was 'self-service,' an English phrase Pak Mi-ok had not heard before.
article_snippet: Pak Mi-ok ended up going without water during Pak Mi-ok meal because Pak Mi-ok was too shy to admit
article_snippet: Pak Mi-ok didn't understand. '
article_snippet: I worried a waitress would look down on me,' Pak Mi-ok told the Associated Press.
article_snippet: Pak Mi-ok started out working at restaurants but struggled to understand customers. '
article_snippet: I thought customers spoke a different language,' Pak Mi-ok said.
article_snippet: But Pak Mi-ok gradually picked up the new vocabulary and uses words like 'stress' and 'claim' that are not heard up in the North.