Lim Hye-jin former North Korean Prison Guard, the first former female guard to speak openly about her experiences, introduced earlier this year.
North Korea's
Nightmare Prison Camps Revealed in a Terrifying New Report.
People in hundreds of thousands are languishing away in brutal prison camps, many of which
the North Korean regime denies even exist.
A Committee on Human
Rights in North Korea (HRNK) report based on new satellite images reveals young
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s extensive network of camps for political
prisoners and other individuals identified as enemies of the state. These
facilities, where “forced labor with deliberate starvation, inadequate medical
care and poor hygiene conditions cause the deaths of thousands of inmates
annually,” are located across the country,according to
David Hawk, a North Korea expert and the author of the report on the country’s
prison system.
A 2014 United
Nations Commission of Inquiry report concluded that
80,000 to 120,000 are being held in the four largest camps. In an earlier
investigation, Amnesty International suggested that
as many as 200,000 people could be suffering and dying in North Korea’s prison
facilities. Tough physical labor, cruel interrogations, torture, and death have
been reported at these camps.
The rogue regime has
short- and long-term prisons, as well as political prison facilities, for a
variety of different criminals. “Malnutrition and starvation due to
below-subsistence food rations, arduous forced labor, brutal and inhumane
conditions, large numbers of deaths, and innumerable crimes against humanity”
are the defining characteristics of all of these prison camps, the HRNK report
revealed.
Many political
prisoners, individuals accused of engaging in alleged “anti-state activities,”
are sentenced to life in prison, frequently with three generations of the
person’s family in tow. North Koreans are often sent to prison for activities
that would not be considered criminal in other countries, such as singing a
South Korean pop song, as was the case with one former North Korean prisoner
interviewed for the report.
Kaechon, one of the
oldest known prison camps, is believed to be home to as many as 6,000
prisoners, who are forced to produce textile and leather products for the North
Korean regime. The work is difficult and dangerous, especially given the
toxicity of some of the chemical components and the destructive capabilities of
some of the heavy machinery involved in the production process.
“Prison hygiene was
reportedly appalling and food rations were inadequate, leading to high rates of
death from malnutrition-related illness, particularly for those prisoners whose
families did not or could not bring them food,” the HRNK report introduced.
Former prisoners explained that “the brutal and arduous labor, grossly
inadequate diet, and lack of medicine lead to a dreadfully large number of
deaths in detention.”
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