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Shin Dong-hyuk is Born
Shin Dong-hyuk (Shin In Geun) was born inside the North Korean internment camp named Camp 14. His parents were set up as a reward for good behavior in the camp. Both parents were sent to the camps as punishment for something that a relative had done that went against the North Korean government. -
First Execution
Sin witnessed his first of many executions in the camp. All executions were mandatory for prisoners to witness in order to instill fear in them. -
Snitch
Shin is allowed to visit home and as he is about to fall asleep he overhears his mother and brother preparing to escape. He runs off to find his teacher to report the plan but only an officer is in sight. Shin reports it to him in hopes that he will be rewarded for coming to authorities. -
Abducted
Officers kidnapped Shin and took him to an underground prison for interrogation about his mother and brother's attempted escape. The officers were not informed that Shin was the one who tipped them off about his mother's plan because the guard that Shin reported took the credit for the information. He spent 8 months underground being tortured and starved before being released. -
Reprieved
After ten days of torture Shin finally tells the truth that he was the one who snitched on his mother and brother. The guards at first did not believe him but he torture stopped and several days later Shin was brought to a different cell with another prisoner because his friend Hong Sung Jo (who had been with Shin the night of the escape) confirmed Shin's story. -
First True Friend
In Camp 14 Shin had "friends" but he was taught to rat out everyone who did something wrong such as steal food or talk of escape. Because of this, Shin did not trust anyone- even Hong Sung Jo. His cellmate Kim Jin Myung, who asked to be called Uncle, became Shin's first true friend. He cleaned Shin's wounds from the torture he endured, gave his extra food to Shin, and sparked Shin's interests with stories about the outside world even though prisoners were banned from talking to each other. -
Release
Shin was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement swearing to never speak about what happened to him in the underground prison before he was blindfolded and for the first time, brought into contact with the sun. He was brought to the execution field and forced to witnessed the death of his mother and brother. -
A Way Out
Shin befriends a new prisoner, Park Yong Chul, who lived abroad and was very well connected. They began talking about escape and what they could do after they got past the fence. They would travel to China and live with Park's uncle until they recovered, then they would flee to South Korea. Soon, it became a reality and a set plan: they were going to break out of Camp 14. -
Escape from Camp 14
During the escape, Park went first through the fence but was fried to the core by the electricity in the fence. Shin had no choice but to continue on so squeezed through electric fence and ran for days without knowing where to go. He became the first person born into a political prison camp to escape and to this day. He is also the only person to escape from a "total-control zone" camp. -
Refugee
With no papers of identification, Shin traveled under the radar until it became necessary for him to leave North Korea. He followed a band of other unemployed men on train cars until he reached the border of China. He snuck past security by simply bribing the guards with food. Even though he accomplished phase one of his escape plan, he didn't know where to go from there. -
Lucky Save
After losing/quitting many jobs, Shin continued to try to find work. While attempting to contact the owner of a restaurant, he was came across a South Korean journalist who took a chance on Shin and took him to the south Korean Consulate. He was bathed, given clean clothes and adequate food for the first time in his entire life. He stayed there for six months while his papers were getting ready for his travel to South Korea. -
(Life) Story Time
During an interrogation with South Korean National Intelligence Service that lasted an entire month, Shin told his life story from the camp for the first time since his escape. He was then provided a house to live in with a group of other refugees and some money to live off of for a bit but Shin never really got on his feet and couldn't understand the modern world. -
USA
After telling his story to many uninterested South Koreans, he decided that he wanted to become a human rights activist and help raise awareness of the North Korean camps. With a sponsorship from Liberty in North Korea (LiNk), he moved to the United States. He struggled to fit in there as well but he did find some people to confide in and a family to eat dinner with every other Sunday. He also met his first love, Harim Lee from Seattle, whom he quit LiNk to be with. -
Piecing it Back Together
Although Shin and Harim broke up six months after they moved in together, Shin had finally figured out life in the free world. He learned how to capture an audience's attention and how to speak freely and eloquently so the audience would be impacted. For the first time since his escape, he had seized control of his past and found a way to use it to help others.
