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Comment by zapdrive | Hacker News Reader

I read an article on HN a while ago, about a guy who escaped from a North Korean prison camp. That shed light on something that we don't know much about. Now that was some escape. He is the only person to have ever escaped a North Korean prison camp.

Again, as I said, the author did go through a lot of difficulties in her childhood. But in my opinion, this article is on the front page of HN, only because its about North Korea. Thousands of other people "escape" poverty and inhumane living conditions to reach US/Western countries from all over the world every year.

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So the story is not good enough because it doesn't involve prison and violence? So she should just keep her story to herself because it isn't as action-packed?

I can't say how much I disagree with this. People should share their stories, even if they are totally mundane. I also feel like you totally disregarded the content of her Q&A which gave many people the opportunity to get insight on the conditions inside of North Korea's closed society.

>I read an article on HN a while ago, about a guy who escaped from a North Korean prison camp. That shed light on something that we don't know much about.

Without any corroboration I wouldn't believe that story 100%.

Especially in an era when said country is in the spotlight as an enemy.

As war correspondent and write Philip Knightley wrote: "The first casualty of any war is the truth". The same holds true for any coverage of a place where diplomatic animosity and/or state interests come into play.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Casualty-Phillip-Knightley/dp/18...

By now there are tens of thousands of North Korean defectors living in South Korea and elsewhere. That includes others ex-prisoners (not necessarily escapees, some people are released after all). There's also satellite imagery that corroborates some of the defectors' descriptions. There's also testimony from ex-party officials and even from people who knew the Kim family, confirming that people were imprisoned or executed for thoughtcrimes.

Not to mention all the evidence from "regular" North Koreans who lived outside Pyongyang.

>By now there are tens of thousands of North Korean defectors living in South Korea and elsewhere. That includes others ex-prisoners (not necessarily escapees, some people are released after all). There's also satellite imagery that corroborates some of the defectors' descriptions. There's also testimony from ex-party officials and even from people who knew the Kim family, confirming that people were imprisoned or executed for thoughtcrimes.

The parts that I dispute cannot be corroborated by "satellite" (which can also show the presence of a camp).

And I'm sure that "people were imprisoned or executed for thoughtcrimes". That happens in any country, and all much more in a regime like NK.

It's the other details of life in prison, situations, etc, I'm not so hot about.

Which specific aspects of the popular account of the North Korean regime do you dispute, so we can be sure to give you full credit when you're proven correct?

Most of it. Sounds like soapy BS for the American public, in preparation for the next targeted enemy.

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