However, Mr Shin now says that that torture occurred when he was 20, the Post said. On Sunday, Mr Shin wrote on his Facebook page that he was "very sorry". He said that he had wanted to "conceal and hide" part of his painful past. He also said that he might end his work against North Korea's prison camps, but urged supporters to continue campaigning against rights abuses.
North Korea has previously sought to discredit Mr Shin, including by releasing a video of Mr Shin's father saying that his son had never been in a labour camp. Human rights experts have argued that the inaccuracies in Mr Shin's account are minor, and do not alter the extent of the torture he suffered. In addition to public testimonies from more than 80 North Korean defectors and witnesses, the commission also drew on confidential interviews with about other witnesses who were afraid to speak publicly, fearing reprisals against their families.
The commission said detainees in prison camps were subject to "deliberate starvation, forced labour, executions, torture, rape and the denial of reproductive rights enforced through punishment, forced abortion and infanticide". Shin Dong-hyuk's interview. His escape lasted for about two years of which he spent a year and a half in China getting by with occasional jobs that he managed to find in local farms. Thanks to the help of a journalist that he subsequently met by chance while he was looking for a job in a Korean restaurant, he was able to gain entrance into the South Korean Embassy in China and through this his freedom.
What are the difficulties a North Korean has to face once he has managed to get out of his country of origin? You feel light years behind and often feel excluded from this society that you do not belong to.
One of the hardest things to do is to abandon your own family because you know that you will never see them again, it is heartbreaking not knowing the punishment that will be inflicted on them or if they are dead or alive.
To tell the truth North Korea is not a place where you can take care of your dear ones, there are restrictions even on this. Despite everything many people that live there risk their lives so as not to see their family members die of starvation, by crossing over the border into China to try and recuperate a little money and basic necessities.
Can you describe a typical day in the camp, were they all the same or did prisoners look forward to one in particular? We got up early in the morning and then the guards of a department assigned the usually tasks, even the menu was repetitive, cabbage soup and nothing else. The only distraction was attending the executions that we were practically used to from childhood, they were part of our education, they were used as a deterrent, to inculcate terror and to assert their power over us.
The guards were capable of anything, they felt no pity for anyone, not even towards a helpless child or elderly person. I saw everything there and I will never stop talking to the world about what Kim Jong is capable of, a man who will go down in history for his atrocities, for having starved his people and for his inhumanity.
You escaped many years ago from North Korea, how has your life changed? One thing that I must say is that I have not forgotten my family of origin, I have understood that even if my parents were not able to give me a good life this did not depend on them but rather on the situation in which they found themselves, there is nothing that I do not forgive them for and I wish things had been different but unfortunately we can not turn the clock back.
I imagine you have received threats. What line of defence are you following today? Do the camps exist as you have always maintained? One thing I can say with certainty is that the events that I described in the book come from nobody else but me; they are the fruit of personal experiences. I was there for 24 years of my life; I am not able to say if there have been changes made in camp 14, but I would like to make it crystal clear is that I had never lived outside of the camp and have never been part of North Korean society.
The number of the camp in which I was imprisoned, be it 14 or 18, the point is that I was a prisoner in those camps, I know every part of that small portion of territory off by heart. We must remember one thing, the book has pages and it is practically impossible to put 24 years of your life in precise number of lines and include all the facts. It is obvious that I told my story with difficulty because there were facts and there still are difficult to talk about, other facts that I did not want to share and consequently I excluded those.
There are memories that break my heart, but if I was to go back and choose again I would do exactly the same, I am happy about the way the book has been written and I do not believe I have left out anything of importance or said anything that is not true.
The government of North Korea did not limit itself to threats but also sent you a video of your father imploring you to return and to recant everything. If you could send him a message what would you like to say to him? Shin gave no details.
A statement from Blaine Harden, the author of a bestselling book on Shin, said much of the revised account was consistent with the original version and with his testimony to the UN commission.
Michael Kirby, an Australian judge who headed the UN commission of inquiry, said the trigger might have been the North Korean propaganda video of his father. Shin said in October the video may have been a veiled threat that his father would be killed if he did not keep quiet. But he was reluctant to discuss the inconsistencies that his father referred to.
He bears wounds that can be identified and are corroborative of his story of torture by flame and by beating.
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