North Korean Labor Camp Escapee Discusses Rodman Trip To His Country

"Dennis Rodman is going into hell. It's not a country. I would say, he is going into hell," said Shin in an interview with Reuters. "Why is he drinking wine with Kim Jong Un? Why is he having fun with him? People in North Korea are suffering at the same time. ... What he's doing right now, it won't help North Korea, it won't help North Koreans. But it will just make people angry and really upset North Koreans."The human rights activist, now based in Seoul, said in an open letter in the Washington Post on Wednesday (December 18) that Rodman should talk to Kim about human rights abuses in North Korea.

"Freedom is a very short word and it can be a small word but I believe it contains everything," Shin said. "It contains food, it contains people's lives, it contains literally everything. So I want Dennis Rodman to say just the word 'freedom,' I want him to mention the word. I believe that the word 'freedom' will stress Kim Jong Un. And I believe the word 'freedom' can change something."

But Rodman said it was not his place to talk about such issues as he headed to Pyongyang.

Born in a prison called Camp 14 and forced to watch the execution of his mother and brother whom he turned in for his own survival, Shin is North Korea's best-known defector and camp survivor.

There are a 150,000-200,000 people in North Korean prison camps, according to independent estimates, and defectors say many inmates are malnourished or worked to death.

"There is no word that I can describe it and there's no place that can be compared to the hidden prison in North Korea," Shin told Reuters. "Our lives were worse than animals or dogs. Every time I hear these questions, I have a hard time explaining."

After more than a year and a half ruling North Korea, Kim Jong Un, 30, has shown few signs of changing the rigid rule of his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, state founder Kim Il Sung. Neither have there been signs of a thaw or loss of control inside the tightly controlled state.

Praising the "beautiful mountains and beautiful sky" of his home country, Shin said he would like to return one day if things change there.

"I was born in North Korea. Even as I had a hard time and even when I was exploited there, it is my country," he said. "So if the prison goes away, if the Kim regime breaks down, I want to go there. I want to have the air, the fresh air that I had. I think North Korea is my country."

During his visit to North Korea, Rodman is expected to provide North Korea's national basketball team with four days of training during the trip. He also intends to return to Pyongyang in January with a team of fellow former National Basketball Association stars to hold basketball games on Kim's birthday.