Blaine Harden retells the harrowing story of Shin In Geun, the son of a political enemy born into a prison camp who, in a remarkable turn of fortune, escaped from an institution the North Korean government still refuses to admit exists:
One day in June 1989, Shin's teacher, a guard who wore a uniform and a pistol on his hip, sprang a surprise search of the six-year-olds. When it was over, he held five kernels of corn. They all belonged to a slight girl Shin remembers as exceptionally pretty. The teacher ordered the girl to the front of the class and told her to kneel. Swinging his wooden pointer, he struck her on the head again and again. As Shin and his classmates watched in silence, lumps puffed up on her skull, blood leaked from her nose and she toppled over on to the concrete floor. Shin and his classmates carried her home. Later that night, she died.(Video: "Amnesty International has published satellite imagery and new testimony that shed light on the horrific conditions in North Korea's network of political prison camps, which hold an estimated 200,000 people. The images reveal the location, size and conditions inside the camps. Amnesty International spoke to a number of people, including former inmates from the political prison camp at Yodok as well as guards in other political prison camps, to obtain information about life in the camps.")