Interviews with Shin Dong-hyuk

One way that North Korean defectors help other North Korean people, is if the defector still has parents inside North Korea the defector will work very hard, save money, and through intermediaries, send money to North Korea to try and extract them from North Korea and bring them to South Korea to freedom.

Other defectors will work, save money, and send money to North Korea to support other relatives and siblings.

I was born in North Korea so that is the only reason why I suffered what I suffered. If I was born in the USA or [South] Korea, I would not be talking about this, obviously.

But, we are all human beings whether one comes from North Korea, or the US, or anywhere else in the world. We all have two ears, two eyes, and we all look the same.

Human beings can feel compassion for sick animals, and would want to take care of them.

But if human beings look at another suffering person and ignore them, then we have no conscience at all for not caring about our fellow human beings.

So I think from that perspective, we must look at the situation in North Korea.

There are many NGOs and organizations that are involved with North Korean human rights.

For example, many groups rescue defectors and refugees, and resettle them in freedom in South Korea, the US, Europe, and elsewhere.

There are many conferences, symposiums, and events held to tell the world about what is going on in North Korea, and to put pressure on the North Korean regime.

There are many ways to support bringing about change in North Korea, but that fact that we are asking this question, to me,

means we have not searched hard enough. We have not searched hard enough; we have not done enough work that is necessary to be able to deal with this issue.

Shin Dong Hyuk is the only known person to be born in a North Korean gulag and escape to freedom. In North Korea, whole families are incarcerated for the offenses of a single family member. As many as 130,000 men, women and children are imprisoned in North Korea’s vast system of gulags.

Shin was born in 1982 in Camp 14, the product of a “reward marriage” between two prisoners. He lived with his mother until the age of 12, though they never formed a true familial bond. Shin received a basic education before being pressed into the camp’s labor force. During this time, he witnessed fellow children being beaten, executed and killed in work-related accidents.

In 1996, prison officials brought Shin to a separate detention facility where he was tortured. He had no idea why this was happening to him. Finally, the guards explained that his mother and brother had attempted to escape and they wanted more information. After being held in an underground cell for seven months, Shin was forced to attend the public execution of his mother and brother.

In 2005, Shin and another prisoner were assigned to work on a mountain. Driven by hunger, the two decided to escape over the electrified fence enclosing the camp. Shin’s leg was caught in the fence and scarred, but he managed to get through; the other prisoner was electrocuted and died. From there, Shin managed to cross the border into China where he worked as a laborer for several years until connecting with a journalist who brought him to the South Korean Embassy. From there, Shin escaped China.

Shin’s incredible story has been shared with the world in the book, Escape from Camp 14, by American journalist Blaine Harden. Since escaping, Shin has become a leading voice on North Korean human rights and the country’s gulag system, including providing testimony at the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).