North Korea has been in the spotlight more often than we'd like. From its wacko foreign policy and half-hearted threats of nuclear annihilation on their “capitalist” enemies to the darkly humorous overblown cult-of-personality used by its Dear Leaders and the extreme technological isolation of its populous, the totalitarian regime more than earns its moniker, the “Hermit Kingdom.” Frequently the target of online mockery and parody for these reasons, many, as a result, overlook or ignore the regime's gross human rights violations at the hands of the state.

Written by Blaine Harden, Escape from Camp 14 was the subject of a lot of attention, to say the least, as well as a movie adaptation. Escape from Camp 14 reaffirms North Korea's status as a rogue dictatorship; a sealed-off bubble where the government has free reign on brutally violating its citizens in unspeakable ways through interviews with Shin Ingeun. The only escapee of the regime's infamous Camp 14 (where political prisoners and their families are imprisoned for literal generations), Shin's 2005 defection was the subject of much journalistic and political attention. Shin's scarred, undernourished body told only a fraction of what really went on inside the camps, but this book, a thorough tell-all, will horrify, but most importantly, bring understanding to why the North Korean dictatorship must be dissolved.

Escape from Camp 14 evokes imagery of the Holocaust, and with good reason. North Korean concentration camps imprison entire families, with every subsequent generation (usually born to prearranged couples as a “reward,” Shin having been a product of this parody of love and marriage) experiencing nothing better or worse, just more of the same brutalization. Very little in the book differs the events and setting of the prison camp from the ones seen in Russian gulags (and with the USSR once having been North Korea's primary source of financial support, it's hardly surprising). Betrayal is a common theme in this book, with the camp's occupants conditioned to distrust and report each other as second nature.

While largely about the cruelty Shin experienced in his internment, the book also has its few moments of relative optimism, kindness and consideration displayed by those untouched mentally by the camp's incessant brainwashing. Trust and caring towards him displayed by complete strangers, rather than his family members, ultimately became the key to his escape.

It wouldn't take a scholar to realize the grim nature of the subject, and Escape from Camp 14 follows suit in that tone. The book almost never lets up with the sordid examination of life inside the prison camp. Even Shin's escape attempt from the camp and life since has an incredibly bitter-sweet tone to it, being perpetually haunted by his actions defensible by his instinct to survive, but victim to feelings of guilt. Despite being absorbed in his activism work, Shin's post-escape life is still controlled by his camp-life emotional indoctrination.

Readers will also find illustrations by Shin that demonstrate the mistreatment and torture he experienced along his painful slough through life. The drawings, despite their roughness, more than fill in the blanks of the reader's imagination. Alone in the world, with no family, a complete alien to the customs and attitudes of the outside world, Shin still fights to close these invisible camps, the very same that the North Korea government claims do not exist.

Despite its seemingly political exterior, with the upper Korea's nature as a hot-button issue, the bulk of Escape from Camp 14 is apolitical in nature. Camp 14 is by and large a tale of survival, an ice-cold reminder of how truly cruel and kind humans can be in the face of terrifying oppression.

Reading Between The Lines explores books that you may have missed out on that are worth your while. If you have a book to suggest, email Eshaan at e_gupta@fanshaweonline.ca.