Escape from Camp 14:

One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in

the West

Journal 1

What is your most valuable Privilege?

-Driving

-Cell Phone

-Friends

IF you had to give it up, how would your life be altered?

Escape from Camp 14This novel is a non-fiction story of the harrowing survival of Shin and how he survived the brutality of a 'Total Control' North Korean prison camp is impossible to conceive.

From watching classmates being beaten to death and his mother and brother being executed, to being tortured over hot coals at the age of 13 and suffering near starvation for the first 24 years of his life, to the soul-destroying work ethic and unparalleled cruelty of the prison guards, how Shin Dong-hyuk is still alive, let alone now living happily in America, is breathtaking.

His story is heartbreaking from the very beginning, yet his ability to keep on going in the face of absolute punishment will inspire all who read about it. The worst day you've ever had, will likely pale in comparison to a normal day in the life of Shin.

Blaine Harden, the author of Escape from Camp 14, has done a great job of presenting the details, and obviously cultivated a strong relationship with Shin. The book is short but there's more than enough in there for you to appreciate the gravity of the situation in North Korea, and its relationship with both South Korea and China.

Escape From Camp 14 begins with a statement by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the official mouthpiece of North Korea’s regime. It reads, ‘There is no “human rights issue” in this country, as everyone leads the most dignified and happy life’.

But, Google Map shows us differently.This is Camp 22, located in North Korea.

Camps 14 and 18, North Korea: Satellite Imagery and Witness AccountsIn central North Korea, along the Taedong River far upstream from Pyongyang, lie two of North Korea’s five largest concentration camps: Camp 14 and Camp 18, which hold an approximate total of 50,000 political prisoners, their spouses, and their children. The camps lie on opposite sides of the river in an area rich in coal, where mines are worked by the mine’s prisoners.

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The prisoners of Camp 14 have been sentenced for more serious political offenses. With exceedingly rare exceptions, they will never leave the camp — not even when they die. The Korean Bar Association report describes its prisoners as “Anti-Kim Il Sung officials from the Party, government, and military, and their family aged from 50 to 60.”

KBA 539.

So do Concentration camps exist today in 2012? Or is this just a fantasy as North Korea states in it’s official report?

‘There is no “human rights issue” in this country, as everyone leads the most dignified and happy life’. By their reckoning, the astounding memoirs of survival in the country’s most notorious political prison, Shin Dong-hyuk, read as little more than a fairytale.

The World of Nineteen Eighty-Four

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Journal 2

What is your most valuable Freedom?

-deciding when to sleep?

-Choosing your own food?

-Choosing what to wear?

IF you had to give it up, how would your life be altered?