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In Shin’s everyday life in Camp 14 as a prisoner, he receives beatings, very little food, and a lack of love and care. At the start of the memoir the setting is very dark and Shin falls victim to many tragic events in the camp. In this photo is a pitch black cellar with light at the end of it. This can resemble that even when there are dark moments in our life, there is always a way out. Even though Shin is treated very poorly in Camp 14, after being unaware of the outside world for such a long time, he is able to see a way out of the camp. Shin witnesses his only friend in the camp, Park, who was supposed to lead him out of North Korea and into China, get killed by an electric fence. “Before Shin could get his feet, Park had stopped moving. He may already have been dead. The weight of his body pulled down the bottom strand of the wire, pinning it against the snowy ground and creating a small gap in the fence” (Harden 117). After losing Park, Shin is left all alone on his journey to China, without food, water, shelter, or any idea of where he is headed. This does not stop Shin from finding the motivation to continue his journey to freedom. He sees light at the end of the tunnel when he is on the other side of the electric fence and his vulnerabilities do not stop him from proceeding. Shin finds the motivation and belief that he could make the journey to China alone which sums up the picture perfectly. Even when things get really dark, there is always hope that things will get better.

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In Shin’s memoir he is born into a labour camp in North Korea unaware of  the outside world. The government feels he is unworthy of living a normal life because of his relatives' past mistakes. In Camp 14 Shin and every other labourer in the camp is treated poorly, this often means they are beaten, starved, or even publicly executed. Although this takes place in North Korea, sadly, a similar situation is currently taking place in China. Shin is treated as an unredeemable prisoner, in China, Uyghur Muslims are treated similarly, not because of crimes they have committed but simply because of their faith. Just like Camp 14, people in Uyghur camps in China are also tortured, killed, and forced to do hard labour. These camps have been running since at least 2017 and continue to torture and execute Uyghurs because they are seen as a threat by the Chinese government. In North Korean “re-education” camps captives are held because the North Korean government sees them as enemies of the state that cannot be trusted. In both scenarios what people view as wealth in the camps are basic human needs such as food, water, and shelter. In Uyghur camps many are beaten and tortured to death for little reason. One of Shin’s worst tortures is when he fails to give an explanation for his mom and brother attempting an escape from the camp. He is placed over a fire and burnt severely leading him to say “I was the one who reported this, I did a good job”. His interrogators didn’t believe him” (Harden 60). Uyghur Camps have treated people similarly. Like Shin, “Inmates undergo months or years of indoctrination and interrogation aimed at transforming them into secular and loyal supporters of the party.” Sadly in both cases the international community has had very little success in stopping these atrocities from occurring.

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After reading Blaine Harden’s Escape from Camp 14, I find myself wondering why does humanity allow atrocities such as the camps that Shin was forced to endure still exist? Past genocides, such as the Armenian genocide and Holocaust, have taken place in an era where information was not so easily accessible and yet decades later we are still asking ourselves why such horrific events ever happened. Today where information travels rapidly around the world, there are no secrets or lack of information yet humanity fails to do anything to stop similar atrocities from occurring. What will future generations be saying about us if we continue to turn a blind eye. Unlike past generations we will not even be able to argue that we had no idea this was happening. One particularly sad reality that Camp 14 brings to light is that even when brought face to face with survivors of these camps, many people remain indifferent. Shin’s comment “I would say that out of the total population of South Korea, only 0.001% has any real interest in North Korea'' (Harden 171), sums up how humanity is eager to avoid having to face sad realities such as North Korean camps. The question still remains why are these camps allowed to exist. Unfortunately North Korea is a pawn in a much larger power struggle between two superpowers namely China and the USA and although there are groups that do want to make a change, it would require both China and the USA to apply a great deal of pressure on the North Korean regime to make the necessary changes. The sad reality is that South Koreans have no interest in having millions of impoverished North Koreans join their economy as it would surely be a huge weight on the country. If other similar situations are examined around the world like in the Middle East and Africa, we would have similar reasoning as to why it still continues.

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After reading the memoir, many of the shocking events that take place in Camp 14 changed my perspective on life and on the love that I have always received. Although there are many shocking events that occur in the memoir one thing that surprises me the most is that both Shin’s mother and father never showed any love towards him. It is only when Shin is in jail that he first experiences any form of kindness. While in jail, Shin’s cellmate who he refers to as Uncle treats him with kindness and tells him about all the great things in the outside world and shares the little food that he has with him. “Shin found it puzzling. He had not trusted his mother to keep him from starving” (Harden 63). Seeing the lack of love to the point that he does not even know what it is, is deeply upsetting and brings up anger at how humans can do this to a fellow human being. It is inspiring to see how even a small interaction with “Uncle” are able to change Shin’s life for the better. More than the food “Uncle” shared with him, he ignited a light inside Shin that made him want to learn more about the outside world. It is inspiring to see how the human spirit can grow so fast even in the darkest of times. It does however humble me to think that while I have all this love, I have never taken the time to appreciate what it actually means to me. Camp 14 starts off with a very dark setting and no hope for the future, however, in the end, although Shin’s past can never be changed he is able to get freedom and some form of normalcy and love.

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I have never been the type of person who enjoys reading books, but I really liked Escape from Camp 14. Until I read this book I had no idea that concentration camps still existed in this generation. Hearing about Shin’s experience as a North Korean prisoner allowed me to see life from another perspective. After reading this book, I am now more grateful for everything I have knowing that there are people that have to put up with such poor treatment on a regular basis. If I had to give the book a rating, personally I would give it 4 stars. There's nothing I find humanity allow atrocities such as the camps that Shin was forced to endure still exist? Past particularly wrong with the book but I wouldn’t give it 5 stars because I feel that it requires a mature audience that is okay with reading about such sensitive topics such as death camps in North Korea. Overall I really enjoyed reading Escape from Camp 14.

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Harden, B. (2015). Escape from camp 14. Pan Books.

Ramzy, A., & Buckley, C. (2019, November 16). 'Absolutely no mercy': Leaked files expose how china organized mass detentions of muslims. Retrieved February 12, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html

Xinjiang: Large numbers of new detention camps uncovered in report. (2020, September 24). Retrieved February 12, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-54277430