What Is The Moral Of Escape From Camp 14

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.

As a result of the regimes isolationist policy the people of North Korea suffered greatly in both mental and physical health. The hold the state had over the beliefs of the citizens presented in “Nothing to Envy”, varied from absolute belief to uncomfortable awareness. The reader is presented often with Mrs. Song’s dedication to the regime, and Kim Il-sung himself. A mother of four she was often gone from home, working and attending ideological training sessions. “Fridays she stayed especially late for self-criticism. In these sessions members of her work unit- the department to which she was assigned- would reveal to the group anything they had done wrong—Mrs. Song would usually say, in all sincerity, that she feared she wasn’t working hard enough” (Pg. 43).When Kim Il-sung died, she

What if everything you knew was a fabrication of reality and the only escape for you or your loved ones was sacrifice? This is the basis for The Orphan Master’s Son, a book by Adam Johnson that details the lives and lies of North Korea. Focusing on a misidentified “orphan” by the name of Pak Jun Do, The Orphan Master’s Son chronicles the life of Pak Jun Do, as he maneuvers the strict rules of the North Korean government in order to live another day. Throughout the novel, Jun Do endures a tough life under a merciless tyrant and a suffering father, remains loyal to his oppressors despite their torment, learns to accept his position in society no matter where he is taken, and inevitably exposed to the truth of his reality. These four themes

Reading Escape from Camp 14, provided me with a lot of thought provoking insight into some of the most extreme struggles of those living under a dictatorship, who are being denied of basic human rights. This also illustrates how propaganda is used to dispel the seriousness of the situation against North Korea, and to keep the citizens predominantly complacent.

In writing Escaping North Korea Mike Kim brought to light the struggles North Koreans face in North Korea, then escaping, and seeking asylum. Kim, before working on the China-Korea boarder, had his own financial planning business but one trip to China changed his world drastically. After hearing the stories of North Korean refugees, Kim found his calling to help these refugees escape a tyrant leadership and create a new life for themselves. Kim in writing Escaping North Korea described his experiences in aiding these refugees escape a repressive country. Escaping North Korea addresses the aspects of life in North Korea that led for them to escape, the problems they face once crossing to China and the

North Korea’s prison camps are extremely horrifying. A decade later after World War l, North Korea established its own system of prison camps (Szoldra). As same as concentration camps, prisoners were inhumanly punished. Since then, prison conditions in North Korea are horrendous and not tolerated by prisoners as well as their family members and society. North Korea’s prison systems not only frightened the prisoners, but the society as well. Because of the issues generated by North Korea’s horrifying prison conditions have not only been serious problems in history but also today, this issue is being resolve by the collaboration of society.

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

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Koreans who have experienced a great deal of hardship and turmoil living under one of the most notorious communist regimes. Throughout the years these North Koreans lived through the death of their great Kim Il-Sung, the rise to power of his successor Kim Jong-Il, and the horrific famine that has left many in despair. Although North Korea is constantly in the news globally it is surprising to realize little is known about the country itself. Communist dictatorship has shut out the North part of the Korean peninsula from the outside world and has ruled with an iron fist. In the years following WWII Kim Il-Sung and

In this particular section of the book, the main power in North Korea is controlled by blood line rather that by the most qualified to rule the country. The perspective of the North Korean people is corrupted by the powers in the government. Their perspective is altered by the constant government sponsored propaganda being thrown at them twenty-four hours a day. “Portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il- the centerpieces of every classroom in North Korea- were nowhere to be found. Instead, the school taught rudimentary literacy and numeracy, drilled the children in camp rules, and constantly reminded them of their iniquitous blood.” (27). But this same hypnotizing governmental tactic isn't used in the camp because they want to send a clear

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

Shin Dong-hyuk is the only known escapee born in the brutal North Korean political prison camps. But did Shin find freedom, or did he take his prison with him? In the Escape from Camp 14, Blaine Harden retells the excruciating physical and emotional abuse endured by Shin in the camp where he was born. Yet, to Shin, the brutal beatings at the hand’s of his mother, the camp guards and teachers, and even the other children with whom he was raised was nothing extraordinary. Scrounging on the dining room floor or in the refuse piles for an extra shred of cabbage or kernel of corn, or sneaking off to roast rats or grasshoppers to stave off starvation was simply a way of life. Shin had spent “23 years in an open-air cage run by men who hanged his mother, shot his brother, crippled his father, murdered pregnant women, beat children to death, taught him to betray his family, and tortured him over a fire (123).” Shin survived by doing exactly what he was told to do, when he was told to do it. He had no family. He had no friends. Upon successfully Escaping Camp 14, Shin “felt wonderfully free--and, as

It was a bloody, brain-splattered mess of a killing, a spectacle that sickened and frightened Shin, but he believed that it was well deserved. Escape From Camp 14 written by Blaine Harden is the account of one man’s remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the West. Raised in a prison camp fighting to survive, Shin is challenged both physically and mentally to escape and make a living. Shin Dong-hyuk is the only person that is known about who was able to escape from one of North Korea's concentration camps and later spread his life story and news about the high security “secret” concentration camps to the world. He was born in a concentration camp because his father and mother got married inside the camp as a prize for their obedience and hard work.

The novel I read was titled Nothing To Envy by Barbara Demick. Throughout this book Demick outlines the struggle these subjects by the names of Mrs.Song, Oak-Hee, Mi-Ran, Jun-Sang, Kim Hyuck, and Dr.Kim had to go through. Not to mention all the characters listed all suffered from the Arduous March, which involved massive starvation and economic failure caused by the North Korean government's currency. From this novel, I learned that I have it easy and I have never truly had to go through any of these things these poor people have had to go though. Throughout this report I will expose you to some of the things this society had to go though.

The Secret State of North Korea offered a great look into what basic things North Koreans are lacking. Even within the realm of Communism. Lack of freedoms, lack of food, lack of community, lack of trust, lack of a social society, lack of programs for children, lack of equality, and a lack of information. When Kim Il-Sung created North Korea, the government was based on Marxism and Leninism, called “Juche.” Just as the Soviets, the North Koreans followed suite with massive inequality between the government officials and the common people. The documentary showed its viewers what the government is omnipresent in the everyday lives of its people, so much so that recordings of daily life are illegal, and “random” searches take place commonly.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick provides insight into the lives of North Korean defectors while in North Korea. Their accounts give inside information about the North Korean regime which makes it possible to analyze to what extent society was an egalitarian utopia. The interview reveals that people were discriminated by social class as evident by those who were richer, and thus in a higher social strata, having more opportunities for success. There was also economic inequity which was apparent by people having different degrees of struggle. However, the problems North Koreans faced was similar, which showed there was some equality from their struggles. Overall, the interviewees give accounts which contradict the idea that the North Korean regime was promoting egalitarianism through their accounts which give counterexamples regarding social class and economic status, so their claim of egalitarianism is mostly false.