Vor einigen Ausgaben widmete The Economist den Aufmacher seines Asia-Teils den Arbeitslagern in Nordkorea. Viel redet die Welt über die Atommacht. Dass dort gleichzeitig Millionen an Leben ruiniert werden, scheint den Diplomaten weniger schlaflose Nächte zu bereiten:

The testimony of one recent escapee, Shin Dong-hyuk (a new name), stands out. He was born in one of the camps to a mother and father given rare permission to have children. He first saw the outside world when he escaped in 2005, aged 22. His life is chronicled in a remarkable new book, “Escape from Camp 14”, by Blaine Harden, an occasional contributor to The Economist. At six, the young Shin witnessed a prison teacher beating a girl his age to death for hiding grains of corn in her pocket. Dehumanised by the constant cruelty, he told a guard that his mother and brother planned to escape. After weeks of torture on suspicion that he was complicit, he and his father were forced to witness their executions. Years later, he escaped by clambering over the body of his friend, who had died on the electrified perimeter wire.