The heartwrenching New York Times bestseller about the only known person born inside a North Korean prison camp to have escaped
North Korea’s political prison camps have existed twice as long as Stalin’s Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. No one born and raised in these camps is known to have escaped. No one, that is, except Shin Dong-hyuk.
In Escape From Camp 14, Blaine Harden unlocks the secrets of the world’s most repressive totalitarian state through the story of Shin’s shocking imprisonment and his astounding getaway. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence—he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his mother and brother.
The late “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il was recognized throughout the world, but his country remains sealed as his third son and chosen heir, Kim Jong Eun, consolidates power. Few foreigners are allowed in, and few North Koreans are able to leave. North Korea is hungry, bankrupt, and armed with nuclear weapons. It is also a human rights catastrophe. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people work as slaves in its political prison camps. These camps are clearly visible in satellite photographs, yet North Korea’s government denies they exist.
Harden’s harrowing narrative exposes this hidden dystopia, focusing on an extraordinary young man who came of age inside the highest security prison in the highest security state. Escape from Camp 14 offers an unequalled inside account of one of the world’s darkest nations. It is a tale of endurance and courage, survival and hope.

Harden, Blaine

Macmillan Publishers Limited

Macmillan Education UK

Campbell Books Ltd

London: Pan

Pan Books

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

London, 2013

London, 2015

xiv, 251 pages : 20 cm
"Twenty-seven years ago, Shin Dong-hyuk was born inside Camp 14, one of five sprawling political prisions in the mountains of North Korea. Located about 55 miles north of Pyongyang, the labour camp is a 'complete control district', a no-exit prison where the only sentence is life. No one born in Camp 14 or in any North Korean political prison camp has escaped. No one except Shin. This is his story"--Back cover
Radio tie-in
Originally published: New York: Viking; London: Mantle, 2012
Includes bibliographical references

26 years ago, Shin Dong-hyuk was born inside Camp 14, one of five sprawling political prisons in the mountains of North Korea. Located about 55 miles north of Pyongyang, the labour camp is a 'complete control district, ' a no-exit prison where the only sentence is life. This book is a biography of his life there - and his escape

Introducing the incredible story of Shin Dong-hyuk – the only person born in a North Korean gulag ever to escape . . .

2023-06-28