‘Escape from Camp 14’ is a story that revolves around misery, torture, helplessness, hunger, cruelty and high-level of state secrecy. It is the story of a man who was born in the most atrocious labor camps, that is, camp 14. Prisoners living in these camps were treated in the most inhumane manners.
Shin In Geun, later named as Shin Dong-Hyuk, was one of the very few escaped prisoners who were able to find their way out of the labor camp he was enslaved in. Since Shin was born in a labor camp, he knew nothing about the outside world. The word ‘love’ was something he had never heard. All day at the camp, he was forced to work under harsh rule of military personals. All hostages at the camp were beaten up or punished if they did something wrong even by mistake. The term ‘God’ was a mystery. The only way to survive was to snatch what you want or stay desperate for it.
At the age of fifteen, Shin watches his mother and brother being slaughtered for trying to escape the camp. At that time, his mother and brother’s death did not affected him however, later in his life, he considered himself responsible for it.
Although Shin successfully escaped at the age of twenty-three years however, he was unable of adjusting in this normal world. He found it hard to trust people he had to interact with. His body bore the signs of cruelty and hardships he had been through at the camp.
Shin’s story had been a revelation for the administrators of this world. Media highlighted his tale and many people rush to help him out. Nevertheless, there are many others like Shin who are still facing the worst in the camps that North Korea forces, do not exist.
References
Becoming human: Shin's new life. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2014, from
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anderson-cooper-on-north-korean-born-in-prison-camp/
Escape from camp 14. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2014, from
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDMCbMbtaQk
Harden, B. (2012). Escape from Camp 14: One man's remarkable odyssey from North Korea to
freedom in the West. New York: Viking.
