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Kim Jong Eun
Jang Hye Gyung is the biological mother of Shin Dong-hyuk, although she fulfills few of the roles one typically associates with a mother—she doesn’t nurture, educate, or, it would seem, love her son. Jang is sent to Camp 14 for reasons that are never explained in Escape From Camp 14 (as Shin himself doesn’t know), where she’s forced to marry Shin Gyung Su and have children with him. Jang’s life is hard and miserable; she’s underfed, and seems to view Shin as her competitor for food (which is exactly how Shin thinks of Jang). Jang and her older son, He Geun, plan to escape from Camp 14, but Shin informs on them, and they’re eventually executed.
Jang Hye Gyung / Shin’s Mother Quotes in Escape from Camp 14
The Escape from Camp 14 quotes below are all either spoken by Jang Hye Gyung / Shin’s Mother or refer to Jang Hye Gyung / Shin’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
That evening, Shin went with his mother to an "ideological struggle" meeting, a compulsory gathering for self-criticism. Shin’s mother again fell to her knees at the meeting, as forty of her fellow farm workers followed the bowijidowoz's lead and berated her for failing to fill her work quota.
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In this passage, Shin’s mother, Jang Hye Gyung, has been raped by one of her guards at Camp 14 (the bowijidowoz mentioned in the passage). Afterwards, Jang is forced to continue working as usual, and, when she fails to meet her daily quota, her coworkers yell at her and condemn her for laziness. The ritualistic process by which the prisoners of Camp 14 condemn one another for their failings is called “ideological struggle.” The fact that ideological struggle is such an important part of life for the prisoners speaks volumes about power and control in the camps. The prison guards Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus ea
Chapter 5 Quotes
Accepting the guard’s word, Shin explained what his brother and mother were planning and where they were. The guard telephoned his superiors. He told Shin and Hong to go back to the dormitory and get some sleep. He would take care of everything.
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On the night before Shin was arrested, he informed a night guard of his mother and brother’s plan to escape from camp the next day. Shin grew up without feeling any real affection for his family—his only priority was to survive and feed himself, and therefore, he thought of his family mostly as competitors for food. So when Shin found out that his mother was planning to leave Camp 14, he didn’t hesitate to inform on her. The brutal irony of the passage, however, is that soon after Shin betrayed his family to the night guard, the night guard betrayed Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occae
Chapter 7 Quotes
It was Shin's first exposure to sustained kindness, and he was grateful beyond words. But he also found it puzzling. He had not trusted his mother to keep him from starving.
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In prison, Shin claims to have shared a cell with an elderly man named Kim Jin Myung, or “Uncle.” Uncle treated Shin with great kindness and sensitivity: he treated Shin’s wounds, entertained him with stories, and gave him advice for the future. In short, Uncle was the only kind person in Shin’s life thus far—the first person who didn’t treat him as a mere competitor for food, and the first person for whom, in return, Shin felt genuine affection. It’s telling, however, that Shin met Uncle in a jail cell. Uncle treated Shin kindly, Harden implies, because he was in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam
Chapter 8 Quotes
Shin's brother looked gaunt and frail as guards tied him to the wooden post. Three guards fired their rifles three times. Bullets snapped the rope that held his forehead to the pole. It was a bloody, brain-splattered mess of a killing, a spectacle that sickened and frightened Shin. But he thought his brother, too, had deserved it.
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After he informed on his mother and brother, Shin was tortured and detained for many months, and then brought back to his prison camp. There, he and his father watched Jang and He Geun being executed in front of thousands of other people (since 2015, Shin has given conflicting information about how, exactly, his family members died—initially he mentioned hanging, but later said both were shot). The scene is, in some ways, the core of Shin’s narrative: the horrific, traumatizing experience that he’s been trying and failing to forget for the last fifteen years. Even at the time, Shin knew Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perfer
Chapter 13 Quotes
He began thinking about escape. Park made those thoughts possible. He changed the way Shin connected with other people. Their friendship broke a lifelong pattern—stretching back to Shin's malignant relationship with his mother—of wariness and betrayal.
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Park and Shin had a strong friendship; they took care of each other, helped each other through their work, and inspired each other with hope of seeing the outside world one day. As the information is presented in the book, Park was the wise, worldly father-figure to Shin; however, it’s recently come to light that Shin had already been outside the camp twice before he met Park, suggesting that Shin wasn’t nearly as naïve as Harden presents him in this chapter. Nevertheless, it’s clear enough that Park was an importance influence on Shin. Park inspired Shin to escape from camp Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia.
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Jang Hye Gyung / Shin’s Mother Character Timeline in Escape from Camp 14
The timeline below shows where the character Jang Hye Gyung / Shin’s Mother appears in Escape from Camp 14. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Preface: A Teachable Moment
...“His first memory is an execution.” When Shin In Geun is four years old, his mother walks him to a wheat field, where thousands of others have been rounded up by...
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...them: the guards tortured them in order to learn about the failed escape of Shin’s mother and brother. Shin has been brutally beaten, but he hasn’t confessed—he wasn’t involved in the...
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...Shin and his father are forced to stand in the crowd and watch as Shin’s mother and brother are killed. At the time, Shin is angry with his family for planning...
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Introduction: Never Heard the Word “Love”
On January 2, 2005—nine years after his mother’s execution, at the age of 23—Shin escaped from Camp 14. He is believed to be...
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...camp, though he remembers his family with love. Shin’s story of survival is very different—his mother hit him and his father ignored him, and neither showed him any real affection. He...
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...in 2008, in downtown Seoul. With a translator’s help, Shin told Harden about watching his mother’s hanging. He also mentioned that he’d never heard the word “love,” even from his mother—a...
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Chapter 1: The Boy Who Ate His Mother’s Lunch
Shin and his mother live in one of the best parts of Camp 14—a “model village,” consisting of forty...
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As a child, Shin eats the food his mother brought home for meeting her “daily work quota.” Sometimes, he eats his mother’s food, too—but...
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...father is named Shin Gyung Sub. Supposedly, the guards rewarded him with a marriage to Jang because he was good at operating a lathe. Marriage is usually seen as a promotion,...
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...to snitch on his peers. However, he also witnesses the head guard having sex with Jang. Jang puts up no resistance, and Shin never speaks to his mother about what he’d...
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Chapter 4: Mother Tries to Escape
...you’re here?” When Shin says that he has no idea, they inform him that his mother and brother have been caught trying to escape. Shin insists that he knows nothing about...
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...There is no way to prove Shin’s claims about the prison, since his brother and mother are dead. Personally, Harden believed Shin’s story, and included it in his initial Post article....
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Chapter 5: Mother Tries to Escape, Version Two
...him that as a reward for good behavior, he can go eat dinner with his mother, rather than spending time in the dormitory. At home, Shin finds Jang sitting with his...
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Shin listens to Jang and He Geun talk, and realizes that they’re planning to escape. Shin becomes alarmed—he is...
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Chapter 6: This Son of a Bitch Won’t Do
...accomplice. (Shin later realized that the night guard had claimed all the credit for discovering Jang’s escape plan—he hadn’t mentioned Shin at all.)
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...next day, they bring him back for more interrogation. They demand to know why his mother wanted to escape, threatening to kill Shin if he doesn’t tell the truth. The next...
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Chapter 8: Avoiding Mother’s Eyes
...back to the center of the camp, where their blindfolds are removed. There, they see Jang and He Geun, tied up for an execution. Shin’s father begins to weep.
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For years, Shin has lived in shame about the death of Jang and He Geun. He lied about his role in the atrocity, and continues to remember...
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Chapter 9: Reactionary Son of a Bitch
...to hate his parents for giving birth to him within Camp 14. He hates his mother for plotting to escape, and when his father visits him, Shin refuses to speak. Yet...
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Chapter 21: K’uredit K’adus
...new home, Shin begins to have nightmares and traumatic flashbacks to the day of his mother’s death. He begins to feel guilty for his role in her murder. Many North Korean...
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Chapter 23: U.S.A.
...hard to talk about his life. Shin explains that he still has nightmares about his mother’s death. When LiNK tries to convince him to go to therapy, he refuses. He also...
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