“If you have a soul you will be changed forever by Blaine Harden’s Escape from Camp 14." —
Mitchell Zuckoff New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Shangri-La The heartwrenching
New York Times bestseller about the only known person born inside a North Korean prison camp to
have escaped North Korea’s political prison camps have existed twice as long as Stalin’s
Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. No one born and raised
in these camps is known to have escaped. No one that is except Shin Dong-hyuk. In Escape
From Camp 14 Blaine Harden unlocks the secrets of the world’s most repressive totalitarian
state through the story of Shin’s shocking imprisonment and his astounding getaway. Shin knew
nothing of civilized existence—he saw his mother as a competitor for food guards raised him to
be a snitch and he witnessed the execution of his mother and brother. The late “Dear Leader”
Kim Jong Il was recognized throughout the world but his country remains sealed as his third
son and chosen heir Kim Jong Eun consolidates power. Few foreigners are allowed in and few
North Koreans are able to leave. North Korea is hungry bankrupt and armed with nuclear
weapons. It is also a human rights catastrophe. Between 150 000 and 200 000 people work as
slaves in its political prison camps. These camps are clearly visible in satellite photographs
yet North Korea’s government denies they exist. Harden’s harrowing narrative exposes this
hidden dystopia focusing on an extraordinary young man who came of age inside the highest
security prison in the highest security state. Escape from Camp 14 offers an unequalled inside
account of one of the world’s darkest nations. It is a tale of endurance and courage survival
and hope.
