Escape from Camp 14

The Ten Laws of Camp 14

Shin was required in the camp’s school to memorize these rules and was often ordered by guards to recite them.

Anyone caught escaping will be shot immediately.

Any witness to an attempted escape who fails to report it will be shot immediately.

Any witness to an attempted escape must promptly notify a guard.

Groups of two or more are prohibited from assembling to devise a plot or to attempt to escape.

Anyone who fails to secure permission from a guard for a meeting of more than two prisoners will be shot immediately.

Those who trespass into the guards’ village or who damage public property will be shot immediately.

No gathering may exceed the number of prisoners allowed by the guard in charge.

Outside work, no group of prisoners may gather without permission.

At night, three or more prisoners may not travel together without permission from the guard in charge.

Anyone found stealing or in possession of arms will be shot immediately.

Anyone who does not report or who aids a person who has stolen or possesses arms will be shot immediately.

Anyone who steals or conceals any foodstuffs will be shot immediately.

Anyone who deliberately damages any materials used in the camp will be shot immediately.

Anyone who harbours ill will towards or physically assaults a guard will be shot immediately.

Anyone who fails to demonstrate total compliance with a guard’s instructions will be shot immediately.

There must be no backtalk or complaints to a guard.

When meeting a guard, one must bow deferentially.

Anyone who provides cover for or protects a fugitive will be shot immediately.

Anyone who holds or hides a fugitive’s possessions, conspires with him, or fails to report him will be shot immediately.

Each prisoner must observe others and remain vigilant.

The speech and conduct of others must be observed closely. Should anything arouse suspicion, a guard must be notified immediately.

Prisoners must faithfully attend meetings of ideological struggle, and they must censure others and themselves vehemently.

Prisoners who neglect their work quota or fail to complete it will be considered to harbour discontent and will be shot immediately.

Each prisoner must be solely responsible for his work quota.

To fulfil one’s work quota is to wash away sins, as well as to recompense the state for the forgiveness it has shown.

The work quota as assigned by a guard may not be changed.

Should sexual physical contact occur without prior approval, the perpetrators will be shot immediately.

Beyond the workplace, there must be no conversing between the sexes without prior approval.

One is prohibited from visiting bathrooms designated for members of the opposite sex without prior approval.

Without special reason, members of opposite sexes may not go about holding hands or sleep alongside each other.

Without prior approval, prisoners may not visit living quarters of the opposite sex.

Anyone who does not acknowledge his sins and instead denies them or carries a deviant opinion of them will be shot immediately.

One must reflect deeply upon the sins he has committed against his country and society and strive to wash himself of them.

Only after having acknowledged sins and reflected deeply upon them can a prisoner begin anew.

All prisoners must truly consider the guards as their teachers, and, abiding by the ten laws and regulations of the camp, yield themselves through toil and discipline to washing away their past errors.

Sketches from Shin’s Life in Camp 14