Book description
Kang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of a North Korean
concentration camp to escape the 'hermit kingdom' and tell his story
to the world. This memoir reveals the human suffering in his camp,
with its forced labour, frequent public executions and near-starvation
rations. Kang eventually escaped to South Korea via China to give
testimony to the hardships and atrocities that constitute the lives of
the thousands of people still detained in the gulags today. Part
horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political
tract, this story of one young man's personal suffering finally gives
eye-witness proof to this neglected chapter of modern history.
Kang Chol-Hwan lives and works in Seoul, South Korea. Pierre
Rigoulot is one of the contributing editors to The Black Book of
Communism, an international bestseller that has been published in
twenty-eight languages.
