In human history, the most famous prison camp is the Auschwitz concentration camp where millions of human beings spent the last of their days. The most notorious group from Auschwitz being the Jews who lost the greatest number of its people and also the most remembered from the concentration camp. A prison camp is defined as “a camp for the confinement of war or political prisoners” (“Prison camps,” Dictionary.com). Prison camps found in the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPNK) have been found to treat its prisoners little more than beasts. The atrocities done in North Korea are unknown but the severity of the camps have left great scars on the people of North Korea. If left unknown, the prison camps in North Korea can mirror Auschwitz’s mass genocide on millions of people. In total, there have been approximately twenty-five prisons in North Korea. However as of 2011 the number of prison camps are officially five. They are: number 22 Hweryong, number 14 Kaechon, number 18 Pukchang, number 16 Hwasong, and number 25 Chongjin. No. 14 Kaechon has between 14,000~ 50,000 prisoners, no. 16 Hwasong has ~ 15,000 prisoners, no. 18 Pukchang has ~15,000-68,000 prisoners, no. 22 Hweryong has10,000~50,000 prisoners, and no. 25 Chongjin has 5,000~5,160 prisoners. These numbers vary due to past testimonies but could also less or more today (Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, "Prisoners in North Korea Today."). According to Soon Ok Lee, a survivor from the Kaechon prison camp, testified in court “there are 200,000 political prisoners in North Korea ("A Survivor: Soon Ok Lee," Msnbc.com.) However the number of prisoners according to the State Security Agency ranges around 130,500 people; numbers are hard to predict due t... ... middle of paper ... ...2009): 8-9. United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. . Williamson, Lucy. "'Life of Hard Labour' in North Korean Camp." BBC News. BBC, 05 Mar. 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. "Prisoners in North Korea Today." Detention Facilities in North Korea Today (2011): 173+. NKDB. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. . "Political Prison Camps in North Korea Today." Nkdb.com. Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, 2011. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. "A Survivor: Soon Ok Lee." Msnbc.com. NBCNEWS, 15 Jan. 2003. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. "Prison camp." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 21 Apr. 2014. .
Blaine Harden, former national correspondent and writer for the New York Times, delivers an agonizing and heartbreaking story of one man’s extremely conflicted life in a labor camp and an endeavor of escaping this place he grew up in. This man’s name is Shin Dong-hyuk. Together, Blaine Harden and Shin Dong-hyuk tell us the story of this man’s imprisonment and escape into South Korea and eventually, the United States, from North Korea. This biography that takes place from 1982-2011, reports to its readers on what is really going on in “one of the world’s darkest nations” (back cover of the book), that is run under a communist state and totalitarian dictatorship that was lead by Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and currently lead by Kim-Jong un. In Escape from Camp 14, Shin shows us the adaptation of his life and how one man can truly evolve from an animal, into a real human being.
Those who seek to defect from North Korea face a multitude of difficulties when trying to exit the country. Obviously, the borders, especially between North and South Korea, are heavily guarded with troops, mine fields and electric fences that can fry any person who touches them. Even if one is lucky enough to cross the border, when in another country, it is very hard to stay there because as a newcomer in that country, one would be questioned about their origin and have background checks. If one is discovered to be a North Korean, it is very possible that they are sent back. Also, by leaving or at least trying to leave North Korea, one would be putting their entire living families lives at risk. If the North Korean government found out who defected, the person family would surely be forced into concentration camps until they
“Concentration camps (Konzentrationslager; abbreviated as KL or KZ) were an integral feature of the regime in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The living conditions in these camps were absolutely horrible. The amount of people being kept in one space, amongst being unsanitary, was harsh on the body. “A typical concentration camp consisted of barracks that were secured from escape by barbed wire, watchtowers and guards.
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Many Americans were afraid of another attack, so the state representatives pressured President Roosevelt to do something about the Japanese who were living in the United States at the time. President Roosevelt authorized the internment with Executive Order 9066 which allowed local military commanders to designate military areas as exclusion zones, from which any or all persons may be excluded. Twelve days later, this was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast. This included all of California and most of Oregon and Washington.
Little is known about North Korea except for news stories concerning international terrorism, nuclear arms threats, and prison camps. From space, North Korea is shrouded in darkness like the history that surrounds this country. This is due to the nation's strict closed-country policy: not many outsiders have visited there and not many North Koreans have traveled to the outside world. While little action can be taken to help the North Korean people, action taken by the United Nations is crucial. Recently, United Nations human rights investigators issued a horrific report documenting massive human rights violations in North Korea. The United Nations feels these crimes of humanity should be brought to the International Criminal Court. UN members work to "promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion” (Youth For Human Rights). North Korea unlike any other country in the world cannot be reported on fully because of regulations on people entering its boundaries.
Numerous international organizations that advocate for basic human rights have accused the North Korea government for some of the most horrible human rights violations on record for any developed nation in recent years. The reports by Amnesty International state that due to the very strict limitations on the freedom to associate, express, and move, that North Koreans are subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, and other mistreatme...
Climate, conflict, isolation, and corruption culminated in millions of lives lost, surely with no small amount of pain and suffering endured. Though international intervention can only help to the degree that authorities in North Korea will allow it, we are not left entirely without recourse. It is too late now to undo the damage of the North Korean famine, and although power has since changed hands, the country remains famously isolated. If, however, we tell the story as best we can, and deny ourselves the comfort of closing our eyes when faced with such a colossal tragedy, then perhaps in the future we find a solution. Silent are the Koreans who perished, and silent still are the authorities that chose seclusion over security. If we wish to prevent this from happening again, we must not let their silence be our silence as well.
Harden, Blaine. Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. New York: Viking, 2012. Print.
Rogue states under dictatorial rule threaten the fragile peace, which exists in our modern world. Constantly as a society Americans have always fought against these said foes. However all too often we pass a blind eye to the humanity of the enemies’ civilian populations. For more often than not, those who live within these systems are chronically oppressed. The nation of North Korea is no exception, with “Bing-brother always watching.” The government in North Korea pervades all aspects of life.
It was 1864 when Horatio Kirkland Foote was taken to a prison camp. Horatio was taken to Andersonville which is located in south-west Georgia where within the 14 months that the prison was open over 45,000 other people were taken as well. Andersonville was the largest prison camp out of more than 150 recorded camps between both sides. When Horatio was at Andersonville, the conditions were vile along with all prison camps of the Civil War. If you were in one of the prisons you could expect to be deprived of clothing, nutrition, and stable living conditions. It is said that Horatio ''bunked'' (they were got actually given rooms or romates but Horatio shared blankets so they would stay warm better) with three others. As was said earlier living conditions were unstable Horatio and his three ''roommates'' were using few blankets to make a haven for the duration that they were together. Later Horatio was sent on a train from Andersonville to Charleston which is located in South Carolina. When they first arrived he was so debilitated that he was barley able to stand on his own due to an illness he acquired on the train. Fortunately unlike many others, Horatio was able to fight off the illness and become as virile as a person could get in a place of such conditions. He became equipped with better clothes and a blanket to keep warm from a boy who gave them to Horatio just before he passed away.
Anonymous, . "What is known about North Korea's brutal purge?." BBC News Asia 13 12 2013, n. pag. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .
All basic freedoms have been severely restricted under the Kim family’s tyrannical dynasty. According to North Korean documents and refugee testimonies, all North Koreans are sorted into groups according to their “Songbun”, a status system based on a citizen 's assessed loyalty to the regime (Collins, 2012). North Korea operates not-so-secretive prison camps where perceived opponents of the government are sent to face torture, starvation, and forced labor. Fear of further punishment is used to silence any possible unrest. There is no independent media, functioning civil society, or religious freedom in North Korea (North Korea - Human Rights Watch,
In the film “Camp 14: Total Control Zone”, directed by German filmmaker Marc Wiese, consists of narration and animation by North Korean native Shin Dong-hyuk, who was born and grew up in the Kaechon internment camp (known as "Camp 14") in North Korea. Dong-hyuk is clearly traumatized from his time in the camp, as he was born in a place where individual rights were unheard of. The rules of this torture camp consisted of bogus policies such as restricting any and all forms of contact between men and women outside of work and forced reaction that demonstrate “the deepest remorse” for honest mistakes made by inmates (0:19). The most restrictive policy stated that anyone who attempts to escape or helps anyone escape will be shot, thus many family members and “friends” ratted each other out, often with no true reason, out of fear of being reprimanded for knowing about attempted escape plans. Not only were inmates living in a constant state of fear, but the levels of sexual abuse and misconduct in camps is unimaginable, as a women and even children were often violated in front of the eyes of their fathers and brothers, yet any resistance would result in the death of the assaulted and any witnesses (0:25). Methods of torture include acts
Imagine having to work a 100 hour work week as a slave, being so desperate for food that you eat snakes, rats, and human corpses to stay alive, and being forced to witness public executions of your closest family members. This is the reality for the 176,000 political and associative prisoners living in North Korean prisons with no rights, no trial, and no reason. The world will have to regard the human rights abuses in North Korean as an important issue if we wish to stop the torture, murder, and starvation that it enforces on its people.
In North Korea there are concentration camps where people will rat eachother out for food. In a documentary about the only man who escaped these camps they talk about the man ratting out his mother and brother in hopes of getting extra food. As he saw them get killed he did not feel guilty for what he had done. Even when the government is not watching people are who will tell the government. He didn’t understand any emotion except fear! That’s why these concentration camps also have a dystopian element of fear of the outside world. No one understood that there was a better place or a safe haven because they were too scared and always being watched. If you are always being watched then you are not free and can never be free to do what you want. These people make babies just to eat them! That’s how hungry they are because they can’t get into the bakery without being spotted and killed. If they are spotted after dark which they always are then they get shot! No one can go anywhere without being seen by a guard or by another prisoner. Prisoners will rat eachother out in hopes of a reward, but their only reward is too watch the prisoner be killed because the guards won’t tell the chief you reported it the guards will say they caught them escaping and get rewarded. These prisoners are so scared of the guards that they would rather die. Most of these people in the camps