Shin In Geun Book Report

In the beginning of the biography, Shin In Geun's first memory sets the mood for the rest of the book. Shin's first memory -from the age of four- is of an execution, specifically the execution of a fellow prisoner. This would very soon become the norm for Shin. Shin was imprisoned since birth along with his parents, and their parents, in a North Korean labor camp called camp 14. Clearly visible in satellite photos even today, the camps have existed twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps and twice as long as the Soviet gulags. Although the United States government are not doing anything to help the suffering people, some prisoners obtain freedom through China and South Korea. In the camp Shin had never understood or even heard

Shin had plotted to escape with Park by crawling under the electric fence. After propping up the bottom two wires, Shin had crawled out and was electrocuted and cut by the fence, but had survived. Upon Parks attempt, he was caught by the barbs of the fence. Shin had tried to help him but was unsuccessful. Parks back was bleeding and charred, and he was unconscious. Shin had heard guards approaching and decided that he must leave his friend. He fled to China ignoring the fact the rest of his family would be executed for his crime. Upon his arrival he had bribed border guards with cigarets that he had stolen and eventually survived from stolen money and rice. In 2008 he had met a reporter named Kim Tae Jin who had bought him food and had first taken his story. At the age of twenty seven he still had not trusted anyone, even the reporter. After years of questioning Shin decided to tell the truth about his life in the camp. The report had then went to human right activists and was written in the form of a book in 2012. The book is dedicated “for the North Koreans who remain in the camps” to this