life:
“This is the best picture I made in Korea of civilians — a family running down stairs, a father holding a baby, tanks firing away. Those tanks are taking fire from North Koreans right down the street!”
INSTEAD of asking for ”world peace” as she was crowned Miss Besieged Sarajevo in 1993, 17-year-old Inela Nogic unfolded a banner that read: ”Don’t let them kill us.”
The war-defying pageant reflected the character of the 380,000 people who lived in Sarajevo then, residents trying to continue normal city life despite daily shelling and sniper fire under the almost four-year-long military siege by Bosnian Serbs that started in 1992.
Now Ms Nogic is a mother of two who lives in the Netherlands and often visits her parents in Sarajevo.
Inela Nogic on a recent return to Sarajevo. Photo: AP
”It was a crazy thing to do during a war,” she reflected in Sarajevo this week. ”But we tried to live a normal life. It was some kind of a defence mechanism we all had.”
With a sound system blaring Eve of Destruction, Ms Nogic and 12 other teenagers - some with shrapnel scars - took to the stage to vie for the title of Miss Besieged Sarajevo. Then young women in bathing suits unfolded the famous banner.
”There were numerous appeals to end this war, we asked for help in all possible ways but nothing worked,” she recalled. ”So this was another outcry to draw attention and have someone do something. We just wanted this war to end.”
Ms Nogic’s magical smile and the famous banner inspired Irish rock group U2 to create a song devoted to her and her city - Miss Sarajevo. ”Mum made me take part in the contest,” Ms Nogic said, adding she never expected anything from it. ”It took me a long time to realise I became a symbol.”
(Via theage.com)
Marine Capt. Francis “Ike” Fenton ponders his fate and the fate of his men after being told that his company is nearly out of ammunition, Korea, 1950 - DAVID DOUGLAS DUNCAN - Life Magazine
A lone British soldier stands up to his knees in spent shell cases. France, WWI.
Tom Aitken
(via lord-kitschener)
A father was in agony after his two children were killed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Opposition activists said the children died during shelling by pro-government forces. January 3, 2012. Muzaffar Salman.
(via vladimirputinsnextwife)
Shin Dong-Hyuk on his scars and memories of being tortured at Camp 14.
I made an interactive map of Camp-14 in North Korea.
White plots with stars in them contain a detailed description of the idenitifed place. Blue plots all pertain to Shin Dong-Hyuk’s life in Camp-14; blue plots with stars in them contain detailed descriptions. Other plots pertain to Kim Yong’s experience in Camp-14, though it was far shorter than Shin’s time.
Example of detailed description:
All plots are cited with the sources I used; the yellow line is only an estimate of the camp’s borders.
Many thanks to Fuckkimjong-un for helping me! I may do more of these.
I would like just to save a dying man. —
Shin Dong-hyuk
The only known person born into a North Korean prison camp to have escaped and survived to tell the tale.
Eight years ago today on January 2, 2005, Shin Dong-hyuk climbed through the electrified fence (which had moments before killed his only friend) of Camp 14, a North Korean concentration camp where he had been held as prisoner (since birth) for 23 years, and began his long journey to freedom.
Despite having all the odds stacked against him, Mr. Shin was nevertheless able to make it out of North Korea and into China. After finally making his way to Shanghai he met a journalist who realized the importance of his story, and helped him sneak past Chinese guards into a South Korean consulate.
After more than two decades of living (in his own words), “as an animal,” he was finally able to start his transition to life “as a human,” which he states is an ongoing process.
Upon attaining asylum with South Korea, he also became the only known person born into a North Korean prison camp to have escaped and survived to tell the tale.
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Two months ago I had the honor of meeting Mr. Shin in person at a speaking engagement, and from now on one of my goals in life is to share his story, as well as the issue of North Korean human rights, with as many people as possible.
Please take the time to look further into his story by checking out his Facebook page, and picking up his book, Escape from Camp 14.
There is also a master list of resources compiled by Tumblr user gedenkenbrauchtwissen relating to Mr. Shin, North Korea, human rights, and much much more. She has also painstakingly compiled and sourced an interactive map of Camp 14 via Google Earth.
More information regarding the many other camps, along with satellite photography and detailed analysis can be found at FreeKorea.us.
Most recently there was a 60 Minutes segment by Anderson Cooper regarding Camp 14 and the life of Mr. Shin.
