Escape From Camp 14 Chapter 2 Summary

After spending 23 years inside Camp 14, it is pivotal to know the psychology behind political prison camps. Philip Zimbardo, psychologist and professor at Stanford University known for the 1971 Stanford prison experiment, shows particular interest in the “human transformation of good, ordinary people [...] into perpetrators of evil in response to the corrosive influence of situational forces” (Cervenka). The effects political prison camps have on the prisoners is indisputable, but Zimbardo gives further insight into how. In all aspects of history, including Camp 14, it is vital to understand who the perpetrators are. In this case, the only undeniable transgressor is the Kim family. Although guards could be considered perpetrators and often exert their authority to the fullest extent, one cannot assume they came into authority willing as many of them are wary of becoming a prisoner themselves. The diffusion of this blind authority from the government to the guards to the prisoners leaves the guards to do as they please with their power. This power in the wrong hands is deadly. “One of the former guards stated that, “after being deported to a labour camp, they are not treated as human beings anymore, they are treated like animals. We, the guards, screamed at them: ‘You son of a bitch, if you were a pig, at least we could eat

The country of North Korea compares rather closely to the world in Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Both nations of people are very closed off from the community and the outside world. The citizens only know about what the government officials want them to know about. In North Korea everyone depends upon and worships their leader, Kim Jong Il, almost as though he is their god. They all only depend on what they classify as “we” and they rely only on that because they do not have access to anyone else or even know what it means to be an individual. In both the book and North Korea, the citizens are locked down and watched with a careful eye. Breaking the rules in Anthem would send you to the Uncharted Forest, which is very similar to what happens to those

North Korea is a Totalitarian country that often uses many different fear tactics to control their citizens. “ Her brother who was arrested in China in 1994 for attempting to “defect” from the DPRK... As an example to others against committing similar “anti-state” offenses, he was tied to the back of a truck which took him to their hometown, Musan.”(North Korean control #3 doc A) Someone's brother was arrested in China for trying to defect from North Korea, and as an example, he was dragged around by a truck to show people not to try and escape. This shows that North Korea wanted to impose fear on their citizens, so they wouldn’t try to leave. “The woman she knew was lined up alongside eight other prisoners... her crime was having watched South

people. There is virtually no freedom with the borders of North Korea. Shin lived a hard

After arriving in South Korea, people at the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights suggested Shin turn the diary he had been keeping as apart of therapy into a book. However, due to most of South Korea’s indifference to their northern neighbors, the memoir flopped and “about five hundred copies sold from a printing of three thousand” (Harden 169). Typically, as

Everyone has a fight or flight instinct, whether or not the person knows it. The instincts don’t always manifest themselves in the ways most think they would. In the nonfiction novel Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden, Shin Dong-hyuk has to rely on his drive to survive. Harden uses rhetorical devices such as strong connotative diction, direct dialogue, and juxtaposition to develop Shin’s story to the audience. He has to carefully craft Shin’s story into a sympathetic work of art to keep his audience willing to keep reading.

Through her work called Beyond the Shadow of Camptown which was published in 2002, Ji-Yeon Yuh reveals that due to cultural displacement and US-Korean relations, military brides have been asserting the Korean American identity that both Koreans and Americans would typically marginalize and reject which ultimately challenges American multiculturalism. The military brides had their sense of identities tested due to the pressure to be Americanized and the underlying consequences of their interracial marriages. Their struggle to redefine their own sense of identities had resulted from the gendered relation between Korea and America. Yuh argues that “the gendered context of neoimperliasm is a major factor in the skewed gender profile of intermarriages

revealed frightening similarities in the structure and nature of the camps to those of North Korean

The writer states in the book: ‘While Auschwitz existed for only three years, Camp 14 is a 50-year-old Skinner box’, showing that the government has utilized many inhumane methods to torture the campers. Initially, locking people up and not allowing them to do whatever they want to pursue their dreams has already violated the basic human rights. Using extreme ways like having BF Skinner’s notorious behavioural experiments to make the living conditions of campers worse is even more unacceptable. Thereby, various organizations such as the United Nations and different governments should face the concentration camp issue in North Korea squarely instead of leaving it alone because we all live on the same planet and it is our obligation to ensure everyone process their

When Simmons first arrived in North Korea she stated that “things went North Korea immediately,” (139) giving the reader an improved understanding of Simmons views on the country. Simmons experiences from her trip proved these notions wrong, and this made Simmons aware that she needed to change her notions. Once she was aware of this, she showed personal growth, by how she was able to alter her notions to fit with these new experiences. Coming into North Korea she never gave the country a chance to change her views, until forced to. What she first saw didn’t help North Korea’s case, “children are assigned their activity or skill,” forced into an “extracurricular-activity jail,” (141) and have no power to change it.

According to North and South Korea by Greenhaven Press, North Korea’s leadership “focuses on regime, survival, reunification, and achieving status as a “great and powerful nation.” To accomplish this, the modern-day leader Kim Jong-un relies heavily upon military and security forces. Kim Jong-un abuses his power as the hereditary dictator to prevent the citizens from leaving, learning too much, and having free speech. These forces and Kim Jong-un’s abusive leadership disrupt the citizens and take their rights away. To illustrate, citizens in North Korea have limited rights because they don’t have freedom of speech. If a citizen of North Korea were to speak negatively about the government, they and their family would ‘disappear.’ Furthermore, they don’t have freedom of the press because news providers go through the government before the people. Because of these limits, North Korea has evolved from a peaceful country to a commanding and dreadful dictatorship. This conversion occurred out of a misuse of power by Kim Jong-Il and current leader Kim Jong-un. Their abusive power was not checked, as there was no way to check the government in North Korea. Since there are no checks on power in North Korea, the innocent citizens there are often victimized. The people follow the laws and do what they are supposed to, as they had always done, but they are still punished. Kim Jong-un rules

Book Report: Escape from Camp 14 I must say, just for my thoughts. This book was exceptionally well executed, and shone so much light on these existing labor camps. I could feel the hurt and pain Shin had buried deep inside of him, due to the lack of love, and care. Now, this book is wrote by a journalist, who was interested in his story and wanted to learn more. Shin though admits, that when he first told his story, some parts were false, because he was scared, and did not yet have enough trust put into the journalist, Blaine Harden.

Around the time these books were written, North Korea established a classification system which led to this, “All resources are controlled- livelihood, school, lodging, whom can marry are all based on your ranking” as stated by Suzanne Scholte. To put this differently, the government mandated everything it possibly could, right down to

1984 demonstrates a dystopian society in Oceania by presenting a relentless dictator, Big Brother, who uses his power to control the minds of his people and to ensure that his power never exhausts. Aspects of 1984 are evidently established in components of society in North Korea. With both of these society’s under a dictator’s rule, there are many similarities that are distinguished between the two. Orwell’s 1984 becomes parallel to the world of dystopia in North Korea by illustrating a nation that remains isolated under an almighty ruler.

He went to tell his teacher but his teacher had already went home so he told a night guard. Next morning shin was blind folded and taken to an underground facility. There he was interrogated. He was astounded by hearing the question. He was asked did you know about your mother and brother trying to escape. He was confused because he was the one who told the guard. Then he figured it out that the guard took all the credit. Shin was tortured by the guard to reveal that he knew about their escape. He was thrown in a cell after the tortue. Shin was only able to crawl to his food because of the torture from the guards. While shin was recovering from his injuire Kim jin myung held him recover.He is preferred to be called uncle. In meantime uncle became shin’s nurse. He rubbed salty cabbage soup into his wounds as a disinfectant . He massaged shin’s legs and arms. Shin thought without the help from Uncle he would not have been able to survive the torture. “It was Shin's first exposure to sustained kindness, and he was grateful beyond words. But he also found it puzzling. He had not trusted his mother to keep him from starving”(pg 63).And supports my claim by showing that without the kindness and care from uncle he would have not survive in that