Shin Dong-Huyk was born as a political prisoner in a North Korean re-education camp from where no-one leaves alive. Forced to labor in the mines from the age of 6 years he suffered from beatings, torture and permanent hunger, always at the mercy of the wardens and unaware of a life outside the barbed-wire fences. At the age of 23, encouraged by a recently interned work-mate and in order to find out what meat tasted like, he escaped. Staggered by the clothes and freedom he saw that other North Koreans had he fled all the way to China, from where he escaped to South Korea. Through his recollections, assisted by cleverly drawn animation, and the reminiscences of 2 former North Korean officers, a guard in Camp 22, who brought out amateur film footage, and a secret policeman, we learn of the horrors of life in a North Korean death camp.

An estimated 200,000 people are incarcerated in re-education camps in North Korea.