North Korean gulag escapee admits parts of story untrue

SEOUL // A North Korean gulag survivor whose torture and daring escape were detailed in a best-selling book has admitted that parts of his story are untrue, and said on Sunday he may end his campaign against human rights abuses.

Shin Dong-hyuk, believed to be the only person born in a North Korean prison camp ever to have escaped, apologised on his Facebook page, saying he had “forever wanted to conceal and hide part of my past”.

Mr Shin spent the first 23 years of his life in a prison camp where, in his account in the harrowing “Escape from Camp 14”, he was tortured and subjected to forced labour before escaping in 2005.

Ever since gaining his freedom, Mr Shin has campaigned vigorously to highlight rights abuses in the isolated North, testifying before a United Nations commission last year.

However, the 32-year-old recently changed some details in his story, said the book’s Blaine Harden, on his website.

“I learned that Shin ... had told friends an account of his life that differed substantially from my book,” he said.

“I contacted Shin, pressing him to detail the changes and explain why he had misled me.”

Mr Shin told Mr Harden that that some of the ordeals had been "too painful" for him to revisit and he had "altered some details" he thought would not matter, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

In his Facebook post, Mr Shin said he was “very sorry”.

“I... forever wanted to conceal and hide part of my past. We tell ourselves that it’s okay to not reveal every little detail, and that it might not matter if certain parts aren’t clarified,” he said.

He did not elaborate on which elements had been fabricated.

In the book, Mr Shin says he was brutally burned and tortured when aged 13, after a failed attempt to escape the camp.

But according to the Washington Post report, Mr Shin now admits the event took place when he was 20.

Mr Shin also said in the book that he saw his mother and brother executed after he betrayed them, telling authorities in Camp 14 of their plan to escape in hopes of getting food as reward.

But the report said Mr Shin told Mr Harden the executions actually took place when he and his family were in a different camp.

“There may be minor inaccuracies in Shin’s story, but his whole life and the nightmare he went through should still stand as evidence of history,” said Lee Young-Hwan, advisor to the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.

In the Facebook post, Mr Shin said he “may not be able to continue” his years-long campaign against the North’s regime, but urged his supporters to fight on.

“The world still needs to know of the horrendous and unspeakable horrors that are taking place,” he said.

* Agence France-Presse