BERLIN (Yonhap News) ― A rare movie about a former North Korean political prisoner will be screened in theaters in Berlin and around nine other German cities on Nov. 8, according to Engstfeld Film.
Director Marc Wiese’s “Camp 14 ― Total Control Zone” is about the dramatic life of Shin Dong-hyuk, who was born in a political prison camp, according to the documentary film company.
Shin remained in the camp for 24 years before escaping over electrified fences and making his way to China. He settled in South Korea in 2006.
“Our sole purpose was to follow the rules of the work camp and then die,” Shin said in a synopsis posted on the website of Engstfeld. “Sometimes people tried to escape, driven by fear of starving or being beaten, but they were publicly executed and became the object of hate for those of us who were left behind.”
The movie follows the March publication of “Escape from Camp 14,” a book on Shin’s experiences by American journalist Blaine Harden.
Shin has said inmates were subjected to torture, hard labor and arbitrary execution. He also has said that his mother and brother were executed in Camp No. 14 because he tipped off the authorities that they were planning an escape.
North Korea is believed to have up to 200,000 people in hidden, Soviet-style gulags where torture and executions are routine and starvation is widespread.
