North Korea prison camps 'like the Holocaust', survivors who escaped say

Well there's a book out called Escape from Camp 14. It tell the story of a North Korean who escaped a "life sentence" at Camp 14.

Shin Dong-hyuk is one of a very few people who made it outta there and lived to tell the story.

Many prisoners of the camp were born there under North Korea's "three generations of punishment". This means anyone found guilty of committing a crime, which could be as simple as trying to escape North Korea, would be sent to the camp along with that person's entire family. The subsequent two generations of family members would be born in the camp and must also live their entire lives and die there. As reported by witnesses, the prisoners have to do very hard and dangerous work in mines and other workplaces from 5:30 in the morning until midnight.[7] Even 11 year old children have to work after school and may see their parents rarely.[8] People are forced to work like slaves and are tortured in case of minor offences. The punishment for violating camp rules is death.[9] Food rations are very small consisting of salted cabbage and corn, so that the prisoners are very skinny and weak. Many of them die of undernourishment, illness, work accidents and the aftereffects of torture. Many prisoners resort to eating rats, snakes, insects and frogs in order to survive.[1] Rat flesh is eaten as a way to prevent pellagra, a common disease in the camp which is a result of absence of protein and niacin in the diet. In order to eat anything outside of their meal, including these animals, prisoners must first get permission from the guards.[1]
Kaechon internment camp
Shin Dong-hyuk

-SAP-

Well that´s totalitarian communism gone bad ..for all of you that are not aware. In my country, long time ago we had an island-camp. People were sent there to prison and one of the things that could get you a ticket to the Hell´s islands (real name) was just an innocent conversation with your neighbor where you said something along the lines of ´that president of ours is a real puppet´ and just like that you are gone for years. However i don´t think babies and children were allowed or born up there.

I can also assure you every little bird in North Korea knows about the holocaust and the WW2, that is actually the number one thing children learn at schools, people talk about, stuff being shown on tv and museums. It is after all when the ´commies´ were the good guys and helped save the world or at least that´s the history lesson in N.Korea.

The only thing i am not so sure about is why the western media is all over this story now, it´s definitely not without a reason and i think everybody here knows it. You know there are 60 more of these camps in Siberia and i don´t see the UN talking about those.

reply to post by magma


The same thing happens in several other communist dictatorships to this day. Just because people don't hear about what happens under such dictatorships it doesn't mean it is not happening.

BTW, the way things are going in countries like the U.S., and others, soon enough these socialist/fascist policies will apply even to our children, and all of us.

For example, the messiah Obama signed the following measure that Democrats want to implement.

...
(6) Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.
...

www.govtrack.us...

This is how a similar policy started in Cuba to force even children starting from primary school, and force them throughout the years in every summer to work for free for the state in work camps designated by the state...

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
North Korea is the one that needs to be watched. Since in December when they sent that satellite into space I have been on my toes about them. We already know they have nukes. Now they have showed us that they can get an object into orbit so what is to stop them from putting a nuke into orbit disguised as a satellite?

Kaboom over any country and the EMP would take out most of their transportation and electricity instantly.
That country would go into total chaos. Enough chaos to where it would be a whole heck of a lot easier to invade.

Remember, it only takes one well placed rock to bring down a giant.

only if china allows it

Playing Devils Advocate, How are we sure that these allegations are in fact true? Im just saying none of us have ever been to North Korea. It could be all propaganda, you know they are part of the Axis of Evil who do not have a centralized "Rothchild" Bank. Everything we hear about North Korea comes from our government or our government sponsored media.

reply to post by TheComte


Perhaps they read a history book, or heard of the subject and made a connection?

reply to post by LarryOG


Not disagreeing with you.

But North Korea too uses propaganda...and if the past is any indication I would say there is a good chance that there are North Korean labor camps.

There has been testimony from the few who have escaped and live to tell their story.

-SAP-

Reading the article that was provided by the OP has not suprised me, but it has saddened me. Although the escapee mentioned in the article is the first person to have broken out, others have been released and then left North Korea, and his story, and the stories of those who have managed to get out of the country, are always harrowing, and difficult to read or hear.

I have read stories of mothers eating the bodies of thier young, and the total dehumanisation of ENTIRE families. For those comparing western prison systems to this... I really think that a reality check might be in order here. Western prison systems do not imprison entire families, all at once, and force them to fight over rations. Fights that break out in western jails, do so generally amongst scum who would be fighting out on the street, and are simply behaving as badly as normal in a confined environment. Western prisons, although by no means perfect, are largely filled with people who HAVE committed offences for which thier OUGHT to be a punishment. Theft, fraud, assault, murder.

The people in the camps however, are largely imprisoned, not because they themselves have committed a crime, but because the government disagrees with the behavior of one of thier relatives. A mother, a brother, an uncle, or a great grandmother or grandfather. Three generations of one family going to prison over one single crime, committed by one of them would be a travesty anywhere, but in North Korea, the crime need not be something which morality would require a response to. Often the crime is political in nature, a free thought, and a desire for a fair and free society and a dissolution of the current government in favour of one voted for by the people... this is a crime there.

Not our business? I cannot agree. The western world in the last couple of decades, has gone to war for resources, under false pretences related to the threat of WMD, and has used genuine human rights abuses by its "enemies" as part of the arguement, abuses which, while terrible, pale in comparison to the horrors being inflicted on the residents of the camps in North Korea.

It is beyond belief then, that North Korea, which HAS launched test delivery systems for its weapons program, constantly threatens war with its neighbors, and actually has camps for free thinking "criminals", remains completely unmolested by the combined forces of the West. Oh sure, the UN has sanctioned NK as much as it could manage, but all further action is being vetoed by Russia, China refuses to allow anything tougher than a stern word to cross the North Korean border, let alone anything effective in chaging things there.

I disagree in principle with the idea of the West, marching into some of the places that it has in the last twenty years, and inflicting full scale military action on entire nations, risking and resulting in collateral damage to homes and lives in uncountable number. As previously mentioned, the lies that were told to provide justification for these actions have never been appropriately addressed, nor justice done for those who died, on both sides of the conflicts that were spawned by those lies.

However, in the case of North Korea, knowing what we know about its politics, the treatment of the people who live there by the state, and its readiness and willingness to cause damage to people outside its own borders, I have to say I would support intervention there in a heart beat. Anyone who has read my posts else where in the site, will understand that I do not say that lightly, that I realise the implications of any intervention there, that I do not DESIRE war, but realise that there are circumstances which can come about, which demand a response.

North Korea is a dangerous state, not just to other nations, but to its own people, in an overt, and total manner which leaves no question as to its truth. And no matter ones morality, one cannot deny that such a thing must never be allowed to stand.

Originally posted by Kr0nZ

Originally posted by magma
....
Why can nobody do anything about it? Why is the international community reluctant to intervene. Are they scared?
....

There's no oil to exploit, so no one gives a damn.
Unless there's a way to get rich from their land, no one is going to do anything.

That would be correct. North Korea ain't exactly a fertile land where oil or other meanigful ressources are abundant so the big dogs don't really care since there is no commercial interests and profits to be made. That was the same thing with the genocide in Sudan. Everyone knew there was a terrible human tragedy going on but again no one who could actually do something about it had geopolitical interests in the region so it was swept under the rug. Those are only two exemples but it happened with other conflicts as well.

It's a sad state of affair but this is now it is and i don't see it changing anytime soon.

First of all very moving post. i find it very sad the way hardly anyone cares these days, with the state the world is in people are distracted , if u ask me its not good enough .

when there are all dead we will be like 'oh that's awful' and probably feel sad so why can't we get people off the backsides before it is too late? like the guy said people are born and die there .

i do not believe innocents should be born and made to pay. good for this guy for bringing awareness. how do we get all them people out of there? where would they go to? we as caring, unselfish loving people need to spread the word to people who don't know.. in mass these people can be saved they need more people to care and sign up to amnesty or get together and make a plan to save these people from the hell and devastation of daily life.

this has been allowed to go far too long and just because we don't know these people, does mean it should carry on!

reply to post by S613S6


North Korea does have resources, she contains the great bulk of all known mineral deposits on the peninsula.

"It is estimated that some 200 minerals are of economic value. Most important are iron ore and coal, although greater emphasis has been given to the extraction of gold, magnesite, lead, and zinc. Other abundant minerals include tungsten, graphite, barite, and molybdenum. Large, high-grade iron ore reserves are mined in North and South Hwanghae, South P’yŏngan, and South Hamgyŏng provinces, while deposits at Musan, North Hamgyŏng province, are of lower quality. Rich deposits of anthracite are also available."

The place is ripe for invasion from a technologically superior nations stand point. I am in no way condoning such an act but i imagine thats how "They" think. As resources become more scarce the US/UK maybe even China will invade at some future point.

I would say that what is happening in North Korea is worse than the Holocaust, which was pretty bad. I say this because the Holocaust was relatively short-lived...What is going on in NK has been happening for many decades, and to a population that is much, much larger. I cannot understand why the people have not simply revolted on a massive scale, even without weapons. But even if they did, would we ever know about it? They have no way to organize themselves, so I suppose it would be hard to beat their government. If there is ANY place the US should invade to institute democracy, NK is that place.

The west's wars for democracy are obviously an illusion, I mean just look at the facts. There are plenty of countries that could be invaded to free the population, but I suppose the US government does not feel they are worthy enough. Or could it be they do not have natural resources that interest the west...hmm.

Old news. But what are supposed to do with 10,000 NK artillery trained on Seoul? Rescue a few million hapless North Koreans in exchange for millions of dead South Koreans...?

So someone tell me, if this guy in the news article was "born" in the camp and then "escaped", how would he know to relate the prison experience to the nazi concentration camps? I doubt they would be teaching them history if its anything like they say it is.....

Never mind, I didn't read the rest of the article where it says he is now 30....

Some of the stories coming out of NK are absolutely terrifying! This is one of them...

Shin Dong-hyuk gave testimony of human rights abuses inflicted on him or witnessed by him as prisoner in Kaechon camp:

When his mother and brother attempted to escape, Shin was thrown into a small underground cell, where it is impossible to either stand or lie down, and was kept there and tortured for eight months. Shin described how, at the age of 14, he was completely stripped, his legs cuffed and hands tied, and suspended from the ceiling of his cell. His torturers then lit up a charcoal fire under his back and forced a hook into his skin so that he could not struggle. He still has a number of large scars from the flesh burned and from many other abuses. Later Shin was forced to watch the execution of his mother Chang Hye-kyong by hanging and his brother Shin Ha-kun by firing squad. When Shin worked in the garment factory and accidentally dropped a sewing machine, the foreman hacked off his middle finger just above the first knuckle as punishment.
Shin witnessed dozens of public executions each year. Another prisoner Kim Yong witnessed around 25 executions in his section of the camp within less than two years. Shin saw a six year old girl in his school being beaten to death for stealing 5 kernels of corn. When Shin was 12 years old, he was separated from his mother and rarely allowed to see her. Instead of attending school, the children had to do all kinds of physical work including weeding, harvesting, and carrying dung. Between the ages of 13 and 16, Shin was forced to do dangerous construction work and saw many children killed in work. Sometimes, four to five children were killed in a day. On one occasion, he saw eight people killed by an accident. Shin’s cousin was raped by prison guards and died later and when his cousin’s mother wailed, she disappeared and was never seen again. Shin saw how twelve fellow prisoners were given toxic water for washing by the guards and got seriously ill within a week and then disappeared. When Shin escaped through the high-voltage electric fence surrounding the camp, his friend Park Yong-chul got electrocuted.

Kaechon internment camp

I'm thinking maybe even worse than the holocaust..

Originally posted by muse7
Too bad they don't have vast oil reserves.....if they did we would have already "liberated" and brought democracy to NK

I laughed like hell when I read this. It is a total ruse to use the word liberate when the reality is Amerika just wants to liberate natural resources so we can rape, pillage, and steal them. Does anyone still believe that Amerika is spreading democracy and peace anywhere on this planet?

deleted

My brother works with American Military in S.Korea. He is a missionary of sorts, supported by church donations but actually over sees a military housing unit.

Last I spoke to him he spoke of having some N. Koreans over for Christmas. He spoke of two who had escaped, a young man who escaped to China then made it to S. Korea...don't remember his story. But he also told me of a young girl about 16 who had escaped. She was born in the camp and said how she and her mother had peeled bark off of trees for food.

As sad as all the things mentioned on this thread is the fact that, according to my brother, N. Korean escapes are treated as 2nd class citizens in S. Korea. You would think there would be more compassion and lifting them up. Perhaps the divide has been too long and too great for them to overcome.

Originally posted by Exitt
I can also assure you every little bird in North Korea knows about the holocaust and the WW2, that is actually the number one thing children learn at schools, people talk about, stuff being shown on tv and museums. It is after all when the ´commies´ were the good guys and helped save the world or at least that´s the history lesson in N.Korea.

If that's the case then I stand corrected.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying prison camps with harsh conditions don't exist in North Korea. It's just that it seemed odd to have someone who is supposedly isolated (or so we are told by our governments) to make reference to world events that would have happened before their time.

If the Holocaust is taught there as you say, then that explains it.