TOW #8- Escape From Camp 14

Reporter Blaine Harden retells the remarkable tale of Shin Dong-Hyuk imprisonment in a North Korea's political prison camp in the book, Escape From Camp 14. These prison camps have existed twice as long as Stalin's gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi Concentration camps. No one born or raised in these camps has ever escaped- no one, that is, except Shin. In this account, Blaine uses Shin's firsthand stories to try and paint a picture of the torture he and millions of others went through within these death camps. Beaten and tortured, many of the prisoners were subjected to subpar living conditions and harsh rules. During Shin's elementary school days, the teachers and guards often beat him and his classmates. He retells a particular instance in which, for stealing 5 kenerals of corn, a young girl was, " struck in her head again and again. As Shin and his classmates watched in silence, limps puffed up on her skull. Blooded leaked from her nose. She toppled over on the concert floor. Shin and other classmates picked her up and carried her home to the pig farm that night. Later that night, she died" (Blaine. 25) By including these stories, we are able to see how cruel the camps really where, and how the prisoners lived in constant fear. In addition to stories, Blaine also cites relevant facts that allow the audience to understand the historical and political history of the nation. After Shin escapes to China, the author includes many short blurbs about the relationship between China and North Korea. “Since 2002, when hundreds of North Korean asylum seekers embarrassed China by rushing into foreign embassies, soldiers had begun rounding up illegal border crossers and forcibly repatriating tens of thousands of them” (Blaine. 146) This added information helps familiarized the reader on atopic typically not discussed or known about within the West, and allows the reader to gain a better grasp on the human right violations and policies that go on in North Korea.