"Escape from Camp 14" is about Shin Dong-hyuk, a man who was born and raised in a North Korean prison camp. Shin is the only person who has ever escaped from Camp 14 and his life story is both fascinating and horrifying.
Shin's parents were selected for "marriage" due to "good" behavior. Good behavior usually amounts to telling on others and getting them in trouble. They were allowed 5 days of conjugal visits. Shin never really got to know his father and describes his childhood as usually competing with his mother for food and surviving many beatings from her when he ate her food.
He watched a 6 yr-old classmate take a severe beating that ended in her death when she was caught with 5 kernels of corn in her pocket. Shin said he and the other classmates did not feel sorry for her as she broke one of the camp's 10 rules by stealing.
At 13, he nearly died when he went to prison isolation for 7 months when his Mother and older brother tried to escape. He was hung over fire until he passed out and suffered burns on his back and butt. He was released so that he could watch his Mother hanged and his older brother shot to death.
Shin escaped Jan. 2, 2005 at the age of 22. The man he left with died when he was electrocuted trying to get through the fence. Shin made it through the fence due to this man's death. He then made an estimated trip of 370 miles to China.
The story during the camp years is just as fascinating as Shin's adjustment to the modern world after he escaped. As Shin quotes..."I am evolving from being an animal...but it is going very, very slowly. Sometimes I try to cry and laugh like other people, just to see if it feels like anything." This is an amazing story.
Shin's parents were selected for "marriage" due to "good" behavior. Good behavior usually amounts to telling on others and getting them in trouble. They were allowed 5 days of conjugal visits. Shin never really got to know his father and describes his childhood as usually competing with his mother for food and surviving many beatings from her when he ate her food.
He watched a 6 yr-old classmate take a severe beating that ended in her death when she was caught with 5 kernels of corn in her pocket. Shin said he and the other classmates did not feel sorry for her as she broke one of the camp's 10 rules by stealing.
At 13, he nearly died when he went to prison isolation for 7 months when his Mother and older brother tried to escape. He was hung over fire until he passed out and suffered burns on his back and butt. He was released so that he could watch his Mother hanged and his older brother shot to death.
Shin escaped Jan. 2, 2005 at the age of 22. The man he left with died when he was electrocuted trying to get through the fence. Shin made it through the fence due to this man's death. He then made an estimated trip of 370 miles to China.
The story during the camp years is just as fascinating as Shin's adjustment to the modern world after he escaped. As Shin quotes..."I am evolving from being an animal...but it is going very, very slowly. Sometimes I try to cry and laugh like other people, just to see if it feels like anything." This is an amazing story.
This is a powerful and moving story and to think of all those people still suffering now.
