Bryan Nevis
Mrs. Welkenbach
Pre-AP English II
3 November 2015
Escape from Camp 14: Loss of Innocence
In today’s world, most people know about North Korea’s political standpoint of how they claim to treat their people well, but has one ever questioned the honesty of North Korea? For several decades, satellites have detected prison/labor camps all over the Mountainous regions of North Korea. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people reside in these camps; Many of them born in the camp and are unaware of the outside world. At a young age many of the children born in the camp, are malnourished, abused and given a taste of what the camp life is like. A popular novel known as Escape from Camp 14 is the true tale of a young man’s life, in a labor camp known …show more content…
These human rights violations lead to the broad idea of loss of innocence among the people living in the camps. Loss of innocence is experienced when a person becomes aware of the evilness and cruelness that takes place in the world much like in the following cases. “A female guard gleefully beat prisoners with lumber.”(Harlan, “South Korea Has Exposed Human Rights in North Korea”). This source indicates that physical abuse takes place within the walls of the camps, and also gives the guards an unordinary sense of satisfaction. What has taken place in this example is the cold-hearted recruits of a dictator violating human rights and gives the innocent victims an idea of the immoral acts that take place in this world. “Innocent 19 year old was executed by a 21 year old guard, his brains blown so severely that his face was unrecognizable.” (Harlan, “South Korea Has Exposed Human Rights in North Korea”). In this case the author describes the inhumane execution of a teenager showing just how cruel some of the guards really are. Cases such as this are not uncommon, people are very often executed publically in the camps. “Torture methods are so common they are named. ‘Flying jet’, ‘Motorcycle’, and ‘Pumping’ are some of the most common.”(Harlan, “South Korea Has Exposed Human Rights in North Korea”). This is once again an example of torture imposed by the North Korean labor camps, all of …show more content…
“His imprisonment included beatings, torture, and sexual abuse.”(McDonald, “Activist Tells of torture in North Korean Prison”). Even after only 43 days within the fences of the prison camp, this innocent reporter was already beat and tortured after being exposed to the camp. This however, is very similar to what Shin had experienced in the early years of his life in the novel Escape from Camp 14. Not only was Shin physically abused multiple times throughout his life, he was also tortured much like this reporter had been tortured. “He described the wounds/scars as too intense” (McDonald, “Activist Tells of torture in North Korean Prison”). The scars that this man suffered just demonstrates how inhumane these prison camps can be. Shin too had very severe scars he suffered from when he was tortured in the camp much like those of this reporter. “He had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals and even attempted to commit suicide.” (McDonald, “Activist Tells of torture in North Korean Prison”). This is a distinct example of how just 43 days of the camp impacted his life. Much like this case, Shin Dong-Hyuk experienced a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder years after his escape from the