hankyoreh

the 2012 book by former Washington Post reporter Blaine Harden

North Korean refugee and human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk, who played an important role in the UN General Assembly’s adoption of a resolution about North Korean human rights, admitted that there were some inaccuracies in his story, as told in the book, “Escape from Camp 14,” the Washington Post reported on Jan. 17.

“Escape from Camp 14” was written by former Washington Post reporter Blaine Harden on the basis of interviews with Shin. The book details how Shin was born in a political prison camp in South Pyongan Province, referred to as Camp 14, and the atrocious human rights abuses that he witnessed and experienced there until he managed to escape North Korea in 2005.

“Shin has admitted that many of the places and timing of events in his telling of his story were wrong,” Harden told the Washington Post.

In the book, Shin had said that at the age of 13, after reporting his mother and brother's plan to escape, the North Korean authorities apprehended the family and he was also tortured. Now, however, Shin says that his torture actually happened when he was 20.

Shin also corrected a section of his story describing how he had reported his mother and older brother‘s plans to escape from Camp 14 and how they had been executed in front of him. This happened not at Camp 14 but at Camp 18, which is located nearby, Shin said.

Shin is “very sorry about all this mess,” Harden told the Washington Post, explaining that it had been very painful for Shin to bring to mind the things that had happened to him.

“From a human rights perspective, he was still brutally tortured,” Harden added.

“At this point I may or may not be able to continue in my work and efforts in trying to eliminate the political prison camps and bring justice to the oppressed- the same goes for my entire fight altogether against the North Korean regime,” Shin wrote on his Facebook page on Jan. 18, indicating that he may stop working as an activist for North Korean human rights.

Writing that this is probably his “final post,” Shin said, “instead of me, you all can still fight [. . .] for the suffering North Korean people.”

Shin’s book was gained wide recognition around the world as an important testimony about human rights violations in North Korea. The testimony also served as key evidence last year when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to refer the North Korean authorities responsible for those violations to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

North Korean authorities have sought to repudiate Shin’s testimony. In Oct. 2014, the North released a video in which Shin’s father says that his son’s story is a lie.

based on interviews with North Korean refugee Shin Dong-hyuk.

By Cho Ki-weon, staff reporter

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