Shin Dong-hyuk was interviewed by Christian Caryl about his life in a North Korean internment camp, where he was born. He talked about the abuse of prisoners in the camp, including denial of food, and how he and the other prisoners motivated themselves to survive. He also talked about the difficulty of sharing his experiences and explaining the camp to outsiders and criticized western countries for not interfering in genocide. He also answered questions from the audience. Shin spoke in Korean with consecutive translation by an on-stage translator.
“America’s Role in Promoting Democracy & Human Rights” was a session of the forum “The Price of Greatness: The Next Four Years of Foreign Policy,” held at the Newseum.