Escape From Camp 14

In November, 60 Minutes aired a segment on Camp 14, a labor camp within North Korea. I did not see it, but was told by several friends about the horrors that took place there, and how this has been hidden from the Western World (I think even from North Koreans themselves) for decades. I had to look into this, and found the book, Escape From Camp 14, by Washington Post journalist Blaine Harden(barely off the presses), and recently finished reading it. Very little has been written on life in North Korea in general, and literaly nothing has been told of the horrors of life for hundreds of thousands of North Koreans who are hidden away in labor camps for all or some of their lives. The reasons are obvious. Western reporters that are allowed into North Korea are not given access to what's really going on. They cannot speak, photograph, or interview anyone who is not approved by the government, and this can only be done with officials present. The only way to learn about North Korea is through those who have escaped to South Korea, China or the US. There are many of those that have told their story, but none, until now, have escaped from a labor camp. Shin is the young North Korean man that Blaine Harden tells us about, through hours of interviews in South Korea, California and Seattle. Shin was 23 when he escaped from Camp 14, squeezing through an electrified fence, after his friend with whom he was planning the escape, died trying. Shin was burned badly, but because of his dead friend's body where much of the electricity from the fence went, Shin made it through, badly injured, but alive. By stealing, keeping his mouth shut, working, the kindness of others, and a lot of luck, Shin finally made it out. This took several years, with stops in China and South Korea, before coming to America. Why did Shin try to escape, when no one had ever done it before? Prior to meeting Park, the man who he tried to escape with, Shin had never known what the outside world held. Park had been a successful businessman prior to his imprisonment, and enticed him, especially with talk of food. Shin had been born in Camp 14, his parents committing some minor infraction which was punishable by life in a labor camp. Harden's descriptions of the life in a labor camp are hard to forget. Humans are treated worse than rodents. Stealing food is punishable by death. Ratting on others is the norm, even your parents. Shin was forced to confess that his mother was planning to escape. For that she was hung, and he got to watch, but he got to live. Years of his life were spent in an underground prison, in cold, harsh conditions, with no sunlight for months on end. The humanity is taken out of men and women in the labor camps. They no longer feel. They don't feel happy or sad, they never cry. They do not feel love, they do not trust anyone, they do not think about the future because they have no future. For those like Shin who were born in the camp, they have no frame of reference for what the real world actually is. Any news that they might get is propaganda, sometimes years old. Shin decided to take the risk and try to escape after meeting Park and learning about the world outside. He made it, but life has been difficult. Talk about PTSD, his nightmares, paranoia, lack of the ability to touch or hug another human being, have made his adjustment difficult. For a time he was living with a human rights advocate in Seattle, but it didn't last. He has become a worldwide speaker for human rights, telling his stories throughout the world in churches and auditoriums. North Korea is truly one of the most repressive governments on earth. I read a book like Escape From Camp 14 and feel sad, yet I feel helpless to do anything. I fear that in a few weeks I will have forgotten this book and the desperate lives of the North Koreans. Hopefully more shows like 60 Minutes and books like this one, by Blaine Harden, will bring attention to their plight. We, as part of the human race, cannot sit by and watch helplessly as these men, women and children suffer. What can we do?