The eighth rule of Camp 14, as Shin was required to memorize it, said, ‘Should sexual physical contact occur without prior approval, the perpetrators will be shot immediately.
-- Author (Chapter 1 paragraph Page 16)

Importance: The eighth rule demonstrates the oppression that people lived under in North Korean prison camps.

Catching and roasting rats became a passion for Shin. He caught them in his house, in the fields, and in the privy. He would meet his friends in the evening at his primary school, where there was a coal grill to roast them. Shin peeled away their skin, scraped away their innards, salted what was left, and chewed the rest – flesh, bones, and tiny feet.
-- Author (Chapter 1 paragraph Page 21)

Importance: Since food was scarce, Shin and the other children ate whatever they could find, including rats and insects. The rats kept their bellies full and warded off pellagra which was a debilitating disease that was caused from lack of protein.

You have to...
-- Headmaster (Chapter 2 paragraph Page 27)