Prisons in North Korea

Conditions inside prisons in North Korea are unsanitary and life-threatening. Prisoners are subject to torture and inhumane treatment. Public and secret executions of prisoners, even children, especially in cases of attempted escape are commonplace. Infanticides (and infant killings upon birth) also often occur. The mortality rate is very high, because many prisoners die of starvation, illnesses, work accidents, or torture.

The DPRK government denies all allegations of human rights violations in prison camps, claiming that this is prohibited by criminal procedure law, but former prisoners testify that there are completely different rules in the prison camps. The DPRK government failed to provide any information on prisoners or prison camps or to allow access to any human rights organization. But according to a North Korean defector, North Korea considered inviting a delegation of the UN Commission on Human Rights to visit the Yodok prison camp in 1996.

Lee Soon-ok gave detailed testimony on her treatment in the North Korean prison system to the United States House of Representatives in 2002. In her statement she said, "I testify that most of the 6,000 prisoners who were there when I arrived in 1987 had quietly perished under the harsh prison conditions by the time I was released in 1992." Many other former prisoners, including Kang Chol-hwan and Shin Dong-hyuk, gave detailed and consistent testimonies on the human rights crimes in North Korean prison camps.

According to the testimony of former camp guard Ahn Myong Chol of Camp 22, the guards are trained to treat the detainees as sub-human, and he gave an account of children in one of the camps who were fighting over who got to eat a kernel of corn retrieved from cow dung.

The North Korean prison camp facilities can be distinguished into large internment camps for political prisoners (Kwan-li-so in Korean) and reeducation prison camps (Kyo-hwa-so in Korean).

Internment camps for political prisoners

Pukchang

Chongjin

Hoeryong

Hwasong

Kaechon

Yodok

Political prison camps in North Korea

See also: Kwalliso

The internment camps for people accused of political offences or denounced as politically unreliable are run by the State Security Department. Political prisoners are subject to guilt by association punishment. They are deported with parents, children and siblings, and sometimes even grandparents or grandchildren, without any lawsuit or conviction, and are detained for the rest of their lives.

The internment camps are located in central and northeastern North Korea. They comprise many prison labour colonies in secluded mountain valleys, completely isolated from the outside world. The total number of prisoners is estimated to be 150,000 to 200,000. Yodok camp and Bukchang camp are separated into two sections: One section for political prisoners in lifelong detention, another part similar to re-education camps with prisoners sentenced to long-term imprisonment with the vague hope of eventual release.

The prisoners are forced to perform hard and dangerous slave work with primitive means in mining and agriculture. The food rations are very small, so that the prisoners are constantly on the brink of starvation. In combination with the hard work this leads to huge numbers of prisoners dying. An estimated 40% of prisoners die from malnutrition.

Moreover, many prisoners are crippled from work accidents, frostbite or torture. There is a rigid punishment in the camp. Prisoners who work too slowly or do not obey an order are beaten or tortured. In cases of stealing food or attempting to escape, the prisoners are publicly executed.

Initially there were around twelve political prison camps, but some were merged or closed (e. g. Onsong prison camp, Kwan-li-so No. 12, following a suppressed riot with around 5000 dead people in 1987). Today there are six political prison camps in North Korea, with the size determined from satellite images and the number of prisoners estimated by former prisoners. Most of the camps are documented in testimonies of former prisoners and, for all of them, coordinates and satellite images are available.

Camps

Political Prison Camp	Official Name	Location	Size	Prisoners	Comments
Kaechon Political Prison Camp	Kwan-li-so No. 14	Kaechon, South Pyongan	155 km² (60 mi²)	15,000	Shin Dong-hyuk testimony; mining area
Yodok Political Prison Camp	Kwan-li-so No. 15	Yodok County, South Hamgyong	378 km² (146 mi²)	46,500	Best-known camp; total control zone and revolutionizing zone
Hwasong Political Prison Camp	Kwan-li-so No. 16	Myonggan County, North Hamgyong	549 km² (212 mi²)	10,000	Near nuclear test site (Mantapsan)
Pukchang Political Prison Camp	Kwan-li-so No. 18	Pukchang County, South Pyongan	73 km² (28 mi²)	50,000	Mining area; total control zone and revolutionizing zone
Hoeryong Political Prison Camp	Kwan-li-so No. 22	Hoeryong, North Hamgyong	225 km² (87 mi²)	50,000	Near Chinese border; mining area; often called Camp 22
Chongjin Political Prison Camp	Kwan-li-so No. 25	Chongjin, North Hamgyong	0.25 km² (0.1 mi²)	3,000+	Penitentiary style

Accounts

The South Korean journalist Kang Chol-hwan is a former prisoner of Yodok Political Prison Camp and has written a book, The Aquariums of Pyongyang, about his time in the camp. The South Korean human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk is the only person known to have escaped from Kaechon Political Prison Camp. He gave an account of his time in the camp.

Reeducation camps

Kaechon

Chongori

Sinuiju

Kangdong

Tanchon

Oro

Hoeryong

Hamhung

Chungsan

Ryongdam

Reeducation camps in North Korea
(10 out of around 15 - 20)

The reeducation camps for criminals are run by the Ministry of People's Security. There is a fluent passage between common crimes and political crimes, as people who get on the bad side of influential partisans are often denounced on false accusations. They are then forced into false confessions with brutal torture in detention centers (Lee Soon-ok for example had to kneel down whilst being showered with water at icy temperatures with other prisoners, of whom six did not survive) and are then condemned in a brief show trial to a long-term prison sentence.

In North Korea political crimes are greatly varied, from border crossing to any disturbance of the political order, and are rigorously punished. Due to the dire prison conditions with hunger and torture, a large percentage of prisoners do not survive their sentence term.

The reeducation camps are large prison building complexes surrounded by high walls. The situation of prisoners is quite similar to that in the political prison camps. They have to perform slave work in prison factories and in case they do not meet the work quota, they are tortured and (at least in Kaechon camp) confined for many days to special prison cells, too small to stand up or lie full-length in.

In distinction from the internment camps for political prisoners, the reeducation camp prisoners are instructed ideologically after work and are forced to memorize speeches of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il and have to undergo self-criticism rites. Many prison inmates are guilty of common crimes penalized also in other countries, but often they were committed out of economic necessity, e. g. illegal border crossing, stealing food or illegal trading.

There are around 15 – 20 reeducation camps in North Korea.

Camps

Reeducation Camp	Official Name	Location	Prisoners	Comments
Kaechon Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 1	Kaechon, South Pyongan	6,000	Lee Soon-ok testimony
Sinuiju Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 3	Sinuiju, North Pyongan	2,500	Near Chinese border
Kangdong Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 4	Kangdong, Pyongyang	7,000	30 km (19 mi) from Pyongyang
Ryongdam Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 8	Chonnae County, Kangwon	3,000
Chungsan Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 11	Chungsan County, South Pyongan	3,300	Many repatriated defectors
Chongori Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 12	Hoeryong, North Hamgyong	2,000	Many repatriated defectors
Hamhung Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 15	Hamhung, South Hamgyong	500	Former colonial prison
Oro Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 22	Yonggwang County, South Hamgyong	6,000
Tanchon Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so No. 77	Tanchon, South Hamgyong	6,000
Hoeryong Reeducation Camp	Kyo-hwa-so	Hoeryong, North Hamgyong	1,500

Kwan-li-so # 12 Onsong was closed in 1987, following a defeated riot with around 5,000 dead prisoners. Kyo-hwa-so Sunghori was closed in 1991.

Accounts

The South Korean human rights activist Lee Soon-ok has written a book (Eyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean Woman) about her time in the camp and testified before the US Senate.

See also

• Human rights in North Korea

External links

• Committee for Human Rights in North Korea: The Hidden Gulag – Exposing Crimes against Humanity in North Korea’s Vast Prison System - Overview of North Korean prison camps with testimonies and satellite photographs
• Amnesty International: North Korea: Political Prison Camps - Document on conditions in North Korean prison camps
• Freedom House: Concentrations of inhumanity – Analysis of the phenomena of repression associated with North Korea’s political labor camps
• National Human Rights Commission of Korea: Survey Report on Political Prisoners’ Camps in North Korea – Overall and systematic analysis of political prison camps on the basis of in-depth interviews with North Korean witnesses
• Christian Solidarity Worldwide: North Korea: A case to answer – a call to act – Report to emphasize the urgent need to mass killings, arbitrary imprisonment, torture and related international crimes
• Washington Post: North Koreas Hard Labor Camps - Explore North Korean prison camps with interactive map
• One Free Korea: North Koreas’ Largest Concentration Camps on Google Earth - Satellite imagery and witness accounts of North Korean political prison and reeducation camps