Escape from Camp 14: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

Onboard the train northward, Shin learns about the Tumen River, a long river that forms much of the China-North Korean border. When the train arrives in Gomusan, a small town about twenty-five miles from China, Shin befriends an old man who tells him about crossing into China. The old man instructs Shin to offer guards crackers, money, and cigarettes, and to tell them that he is a soldier visiting his family.

The next morning, Shin sets out for Musan, a mining town near the border. A few soldiers stop him, but he offers them cigarettes and they allow him to pass on. At the border checkpoints, soldiers ask Shin for cigarettes without even bothering to ask for identification. It is January 2005, and Shin manages to bribe his way past each one of the checkpoints—largely because, at the time, the North Korean government is being fairly lax about border passage.

Since the food crisis of the 1990s, North Korea has tolerated a fairly open border with China. In 2000, the government promised leniency to those who’d fled the country. Border arrests decreased, and the government began to recognize small-time traders selling food without permits. As a result of these reforms, the country became markedly wealthier and healthier. Then, in late 2004, North Korea began to prosecute defectors more harshly. Shin was extraordinarily lucky: when he crossed the border in January 2005, orders from the government hadn’t yet altered border protocol, and he was able to pass through.

Shin reaches the final checkpoint and offers the soldier some cigarettes and candy. The soldier points Shin toward the river, which is frozen, and tells him that people cross it all the time. Shin manages to cross the river, and when he reaches the north bank, he turns back and takes his last look at North Korea.