Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

An obsession has struck me since I read the first few books about North Korea. The country is widely ignored by a lot of the world and the Korean War has been referred to as "the forgotten war." I remember my own uncle leaving for the war when I was only a very small child, and he came back unharmed, but not much was taught about it in school. In the short time since I read the first books I have been consuming books about this isolated, poor and repressive country that hasn't enough food, energy or industry to keep the people well-fed and with electricity for more than a few hours a day and old smokestacks from former factories rusting away with no smoke coming from them.Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden is the story of Shin Dong-hyuk's life in a political prison and his escape. Shin was born in a political prison and grew up in the unbelievably cruel conditions of a system where prisoners are considered not human and are worked to death with just a little bit of food per day, a set of clothes, no soap, no toothbrush or toothpaste and no underwear. For the slightest transgression they are beaten, hung upside down or hung over a fire with a hook forced through their flesh and hanging by their bound wrists and ankles until they confess to whatever the guards think they did. In Shin's elementary school class in the gulag, a little North Korean 6-year-old girl was discovered by the teacher to have 5 kernels of corn in her pocket that she had most likely stolen because of starvation and he beat her to death in front of the class with his chalkboard pointer. This is the real North Korea in the prison system, not the glorious country that Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il and now Kim Jong-Eun tell their people about. North Korea denies that the prison system exists but our military satellites have seen the camps quite clearly.The book reads like a novel. Shin is the only person to escape from Camp 14. His story is harrowing and it is impossible to put the book down. He made his way to China and eventually to South Korea where each North Korean who defects must undergo interrogation to make sure they are not assassins sent by North Korea to kill defectors. Shin then went through the program that is set up to help the North Koreans assimilate into South Korean life. Until recently there were no telephones or cell phones in the North and no Internet, but with phones the North Koreans cannot call out of the country nor can they travel out of the country. These factors make it very hard for them to accept and understand the ways of South Korea, especially in Seoul where life is bustling and on the go and extremely modern.Shin couldn't make a life plan nor could he decide where to live at first. He had been so used to being told what to do at every turn that it was extremely hard for him to do anything on his own or to make his own decisions. North Koreans tend to be smaller in stature than their southern counterparts because of malnutrition, so Shin was very conscious of his height. He also had a secret that he had lied about to the author of this book and he carried a terrible weight of guilt on his shoulders until he made that right.When you read this account of Shin's life, food will become an even more precious commodity for you as it changed my outlook on what I have. Every bite of food we have is a gift to be thankful for when reading about a nation whose population lost anywhere from 600,000 to 2.1 million people to starvation and a prison camp system where people are worked to their deaths.

This book will take you on an emotional journey in discovering the horrific narrative of one man's life and escape from North Korea prison camps. Unthinkable that something like this still exists in modern times. It deluges the truth of such atrocities against basic human rights, do I dare say greater than the Jewish Holocaust, but lasting 10 times longer! Unthinkable, hurtful, mournful, sickening, madding, a book worth reading.

If you are like me who was not aware of the full extent of the brutal regime of North Korea, you are in for the shock of your life! This book is a narrative about Shin who was born and raised in one of the worst concentration camps in the world, the concentration camp in North Korea known as camp 14. The prisoners in this camp are beaten and tortured routinely. He saw a camp guard beat his classmate to death for stealing five kernels of corn because she was hungry. Shin is the first person (and I pray not the last) to escape from North Korea's camp 14.According to South Korean's intelligence agency and human rights groups, there are six concentration camps in North Korea. The biggest is the same size as Los Angeles. Electric barbed wired fence and armed guard encircle most of these camps. Two of these camps, 15&18 have reduction zones where those fortunate in the camp are indoctrinated in the teachings of their leaders Kim Jung Il and Kim Il Sung. If they are good learners and can convince the guards of their loyalty, they are released but monitored for the rest of their lives. The remaining camps are called "complete control districts" where prisoners classified as "iredeemables" are kept and never released. They are worked to death.Shin's camp 14 is a complete control district. Shin was born a slave and raised behind the barbed wired fence of camp 14 all because his blood was tainted by perceived crimes of his father's brothers. Thus, he lived below the law. For him, nothing was possible. "......... His mother beat him (when he ate her lunch ration out of hunger) and he viewed her as a competitor for food. His father was allowed by guards to sleep with his mother just five nights a year, ignored him. His brother was a stranger........Love and mercy and family were words without meaning. God did not disappear or die. Shin never heard of him......"This book showed in gory details, the ultimate devaluing of human life. Western thought has been largely shaped by a Judeo-Christian values that emphasizes the dignity of human life based on the Biblical teaching that man is made in the image of God. Cultures that do not embrace this teaching are left with nothing by the survival of the fittest mentality, which when taken to its logically conclusion will end in situations like this.Blaine Harden did an excellent job in writing this book. The book is an easy read in terms of the writing style, but a very difficult read in terms of the content. You will come to understand the total depravity of man, once you read this book. The events of this book show us that man is not basically good as some would have us believe, but we are born with a sin nature which can only be redeemed and transformed by Christ Jesus.Reading level: ages 18 and up

The best horror stories are true. This one is no exception. I never realized the impact of being raised in an environment like North Korea despite having read several books on the topic. This was the first which really shone a light on the psychological impacts.

Ce témoignage est remarquable à plus d'un titre. Tout d'abord il raconte l'horreur des camps en Corée du Nord. Ensuite il est le récit d'une évasion rocambolesque. Enfin il est une analyse du travail d'effacement de la mémoire traumatique. Très intéressant de lire l'analyse de celui qui a aidé l'auteur à construire son récit et à faire face aux condratictions d'un passé traumatique qu'il a, peut-être malgré lui, dû modifier pour ne pas sombrer dans la folie.

Un libro fundamental para entender los horrores no sólo del Comunismo sino de la inacción del mundo libre con la no tan distante Corea del Norte. Shin es uno de esos muchos niños que nacen en el cautiverio de los campos de concentración (o reeducación) de dicho gobierno, un país donde para purgar las faltas de una persona se purga a tres generaciones completas, y este libro es su grito de libertad y posterior éxodo a China donde Shin conoce cosas como el dinero o como que todas las mentiras que le habían contado eran simplemente eso, mentiras. Duro de leer pero indispensable, no es algo de hace cien años, es algo que ocurre hoy en día.

Very emotional and a book for all those who usually do not have the courage to fight when life becomes tough for them and they surrender... This is a story for all those...

Quite astonishing aa I had never read such an account on labour camps in North Korea before. A good read for anybody who wants to know more.