A North Korean concentration camp escapee received an international human rights award on Thursday for raising global awareness of the atrocities taking place in the communist country.

Switzerland-based non-governmental agency UN Watch said Shin Dong-hyuk was presented with the 2013 Moral Courage Award. Shin was made famous by his biography "Escape from Camp 14" and his efforts to draw attention to serious human rights abuses taking place in the North.

UN Watch also said that as the only known person to have escaped from Pyongyang's infamous concentration camps, the 32-year-old has helped stir the conscience of all mankind to protect the fundamental rights of the voiceless victims in the isolationist country. He made his escape in 2005 when he was only 24.

Shin, meanwhile, commented on the recent uproar involving nine North Korean escapees who were repatriated from Laos and pointed out that Pyongyang has been forcefully bringing back people that fled the country for some time.

"The important thing is not to fight among ourselves but try to find another route that can be taken by escapees," he said.

Laos has been a conduit for North Koreans trying to reach South Korea and other countries after escaping from North Korea. (Yonhap News)