Summary
Shin Dong-hyuk's story begins with his earliest memory: a public execution in Camp 14, one of North Korea's brutal political prison camps. Born within the camp's barbed wire fences to parents selected for a "reward marriage" by the guards, Shin's childhood was marked by constant hunger, violence, and betrayal. He was raised to view the guards as his teachers and his fellow prisoners, including his own family, with suspicion and distrust. Survival meant informing on anyone who broke the camp's strict rules, a lesson ingrained in him from a young age.
At the age of thirteen, Shin's life took a dark turn when he informed the guards about an escape plan hatched by his mother and older brother. He believed this act of loyalty would be rewarded, but instead, he was imprisoned and tortured in a secret underground prison. Guards tried to force a confession out of him, suspecting his complicity. Shin endured horrific torture, including being suspended over a fire, but revealed nothing. He would later come to understand that the guard he reported to had claimed all the credit.
Upon his release from the underground prison, Shin was forced to witness the execution of his mother and brother. Instead of grief, he felt anger and relief that it wasn't him. Back in the camp's secondary school, he faced renewed hardship as his teacher, resentful that Shin had not reported the escape plan to him directly, encouraged other students to bully and abuse him. Shin’s existence was marked by constant hunger, brutal work details in coal mines and on construction sites, and the ever-present threat of violence.
A glimmer of hope emerged in the form of Park Yong Chul, a new prisoner who had lived abroad and offered Shin glimpses of the world beyond the camp. Park’s stories of foreign countries, food, and a life free from the camp's oppression fueled Shin's desire for escape. He made a pact with Park to flee, and in January 2005, at the age of twenty-three, they made their attempt.
Their escape was fraught with danger. They crawled through a high-voltage electric fence, Park dying in the process. Shin, badly burned, managed to make it across the border into China. There, he navigated an unfamiliar world, relying on the kindness of strangers, often Korean Chinese, and working menial jobs to survive. He was constantly afraid of being caught by the Chinese police and repatriated to North Korea.
After more than a year on the run, Shin met a South Korean journalist who helped him get to the South Korean consulate in Shanghai. From there, he flew to Seoul and began the arduous process of adjusting to life in a free society. He struggled with guilt over his family's fate and the psychological scars of his life in the camp. He faced new challenges like finding a job, managing money, and forming relationships. Shin’s journey is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, a harrowing account of survival, and an urgent call for the world to acknowledge and address the ongoing human rights abuses in North Korea.