Camp 14 - Total Control Zone

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Movie
Original title Camp 14 - Total Control Zone
Country of production Germany ,
South Korea
original language Korean , English
Publishing year 2012
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Marc Wiese
production Axel Engstfeld
camera Jörg Adams
cut Jean-Marc Lesguillons

Camp 14 - Total Control Zone ( dt. Stock 14 - fully monitored zone) is a film from 2012 about the fate of the inmates Shin Dong-hyuk in kaechon internment camp (Camp 14) in North Korea . The film is based on the statements of Shin, which had also been processed into a book ( Escape from Camp 14 ; German edition: Flucht aus Lager 14 , 2013), which became a bestseller. In 2015, however, doubts arose about the veracity of Shin's statements. He had "changed" "crucial parts" of his story, and he eventually admitted that parts of his story were not true.

content

The content of the film is part of the story of former prisoner Shin Dong-hyuk. According to the film, he was born in the Kaechon camp in 1983 and, after his escape, describes the human rights violations that he suffered or observed in the camp itself, as well as life in the camp and its structure. His story is illustrated with animated drawings. In addition, film footage of a prison camp made by Kwon Hyuk, one of two former guards interviewed, is shown. The former guards talk about their experiences. It also shows how Shin works with human rights organizations and in everyday situations in Seoul . At the beginning of the film he describes his emotional state.

Special descriptions by Shin Dong-hyuk that are reproduced in the film

  • Shin's mother was a reward for his father. Shin was born in the camp.
  • His first memory at the age of about 4 years was a public execution to which all available workers had to appear.
  • At the age of 6 he started his forced labor , pushing goods carts in a mine.
  • When he was 7 or 8 years old, Shin saw a six-year-old girl in his school hit the same spot on the head for several hours for stealing five grains of wheat, causing her to die shortly afterwards.
  • When he was 14, he overheard a conversation between his mother and his brother, who had escaped from his forced labor. The mother told the brother that he could not stay with her, that he should hide in the mountains or flee the camp instead. Shin reported the suspicion that his mother and brother were trying to escape, his teacher. He tried to eat enough or to negotiate the election of the class representative . The wishes were not granted, instead he was arrested the next day and locked in a small cell in the camp prison from April 6, 1996. There he could "just lie down". There was nothing in the cell except for a hole in the floor that was the toilet. He was beaten and tortured in prison. For example, he was hung from the ceiling by his hands and feet, back down, and a fire was lit under his back. He still has scars from the burns and other injuries inflicted in the camp. In retrospect, he is unsure whether his mother and brother even wanted to flee.
  • After he pointed out that he had reported his mother and brother - the teacher never passed this on - he was transferred to a two-man cell. The elderly inmate was cleaning Shin's festering wounds. Were released on the day when Shin and his father from prison November 29th 1996, forced them to the public execution of Shin's mother Jang Hye Gyung by hanging and his brother Shin He Geun by shooting to look vorderster row.
  • On January 2, 2005, Shin and his friend Park Yong-chul, who came to the camp in 2004 and told Shin about the world outside the camp, tried to escape through the high-voltage electric fence. As a motivation for the escape, Shin said to insure himself from the world as Park described it and to eat a chicken leg or rice once in a lifetime until he was full. Park is electrocuted, remains lifeless in the fence and creates a gap in the fence. Shin escapes over his friend's back and flees to China over the frozen Tumen River . Shin suffered burns on his shins from the electricity.

Shin had no awareness of the injustice he had experienced, as he knew no other life and what he experienced was in accordance with the camp rules.

Shin's general reports on camp life

  • Shin said he saw dozens of public executions each year.
  • Only corn and Chinese cabbage soup were served as food in the camp ; only half a serving in case of wrongdoing. The inmates also ate rats if they could catch any.
  • In the camp, prisoners are forbidden to speak freely, to move freely, to eat what they want, sleep when they want, love and have friends.
  • In the one-room warehouse, Shin and his family had to sleep on the concrete floor because there was no furniture.
  • He estimates the number of prisoners in Camp 14 at 20,000 to 30,000.

After the escape

When he arrived in South Korea , he was interrogated for several weeks by the South Korean secret service and his story was checked. He is sworn to secrecy about the content of the interrogations by means of a written oath. Shin is now committed to human rights, for example with Liberty in North Korea (LiNK). He still feels very close to his homeland, North Korea, and, if there were no more camps there, would like to return, farm and live on self-harvested products. He says that while he has suffered a lot of pain, starvation and punishment in the camp for not doing his job well, in South Korea you suffer when you don't have enough money. The fact that it's all about money makes life difficult for him. He also has the impression that the suicide rate is higher in South Korea than in the camp. He misses carelessness and his “innocent heart”.

Testimony from two former guards in North Korean penal camps

The two interviewed, and accompanied in everyday situations, former guards, Oh-Young-Nam (former security officer) and Kwon Hyuk (former commandant of the guards), describe how little a prisoner's life weighed ("less than that of a worm" resp. "No more than that of a fly") and how quickly internment can take place. Killing or rape inmates did not affect the guards in any way on the part of the regime. When women became pregnant by guards, a reason was invented why they should be killed. It also tells of the above-mentioned fire torture and water torture in which the prisoner was in a pool of water and the guard was able to regulate the water level, so that the tortured people feared drowning. After a shooting in a regular prison camp, the guards received an extra ration: some meat and two bottles of an alcoholic drink. Not so with the shootings in a prison camp for political prisoners. Sometimes the guards organized a group of prisoners to kill another prisoner, otherwise they would all be punished for him. Oh Young Nam, 21 or 22 years old when he was a guard, regrets his behavior.

Production and sales

In addition to Engstfeld Film GmbH, Bayerischer Rundfunk , Westdeutsche Rundfunk and Arte were involved in the production. The distribution is via the Global Screen GmbH.

advancement

The film was funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW (€ 20,000), the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (€ 95,000 - € 150,000), the German Film Fund (€ 313,594) and the Film Funding Agency (€ 82,839 according to the reference principle).

Broadcasts

Credibility of Shin

In January 2015, the Korean government released a video allegedly showing Shin's father calling his son's story a fake.

When asked about this, Shin retracted parts of his story, stating that key parts of his story were not true, including sections about his stay in Camp 14 and how old he was when he was tortured.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jan Knobloch: In the cinema: "Camp 14". A North Korean Kaspar Hauser tells. In: FAZ . November 10, 2012, accessed August 30, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Statement in the film in the 48th minute ( memento of the original from March 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  3. ↑ Choe Sang-Hun: Born and raised in a North Korean gulag (p. 1). The New York Times, July 9, 2007, accessed May 3, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Yang Jung A: Escape From "Total Control Zone", North Korea's Papillon. Daily NK , May 11, 2007, accessed May 3, 2012 .
  5. ^ Blaine Harden: How one man escaped from a North Korean prison camp. The Guardian, March 16, 2012, accessed May 3, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Statement in the film in the 99th minute ( memento of the original from March 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  7. ↑ Statement in the film in the 14th minute ( memento of the original from March 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  8. ↑ Statement in the film in the 94th minute ( memento of the original from March 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  9. ↑ a b ANNUAL REPORT 2012. Film- und Medienstiftung NRW , accessed on March 9, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Camp 14: Total Control Zone. IMDb , accessed March 9, 2014 .
  11. ↑ a b c d Annual Report 2012. (No longer available online.) Film Funding Agency , archived from the original on March 9, 2014 ; accessed on March 9, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ffa.de
  12. ↑ State Minister for Culture Bernd Neumann supports film and screenplay projects with 1.97 million euros. pressrelations.de , November 24, 2009, accessed March 9, 2014 .
  13. ↑ a b c d Camp 14. filmportal.de , accessed on March 9, 2014 .
  14. ^ Camp 14 - Total Control Zone. (No longer available online.) Arte , March 5, 2014, archived from the original on March 9, 2014 ; accessed on March 9, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  15. ↑ a b Jiyoung Song: Why do North Korean defector testimonies so often fall apart? The Guardian, Oct. 13, 2015.
  16. ↑ YouTube video cited in the Guardian : The Truth About Shin Dong-hyuk Exposed (DPRK Documentary)
  17. ↑ Reuters : North Korean defector changes story after seeing father in video The Guardian , January 19, 2015.