Escape From Camp 14 Book Review

(3 Stars)

We have all heard of the horrific treatment of North Koreans and the immense poverty that they live in, but few have learned of North Korean labor camps. Similarly to in concentration camps, the inhabitants are treated like animals. The children eat rats, the teachers beat children to death, and the guards punish the children with physical torture for working too slow, or for no reason at all. Happiness is rare and love and trust are nonexistent.

Shin In Geun is the only known person to have escaped from Camp 14. Lured by the promise of meat and rice, a starving Shin plots his escape with Park Yong Chul, his accomplice. Although Park dies before he is able to escape, Shin flees the camp alive.

This eye opening biography displays the true terror of life in North Korean work camps.