Prisons in North Korea

Pukchang

Chongjin

Hoeryong

Hwasong

Kaechon

Onsong

Yodok

Kyongsong

Political prison camps in North Korea

Map of the location of political prison camps (kwanliso) and ordinary prison camps (kyohwaso) in North Korea. Map issued in 2014 by the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK, under the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The internment camps for people who are accused of political offences and people who are accused of being politically unreliable are run by the State Security Department. Reports by refugees also indicate that all religious activities are considered illegal; offenders are frequently arrested and sent to political prison camps. Refugees reported that people were subjected to arrests and disappearances for owning Bibles.[19] Political prisoners were historically subjected to the family responsibility principle, in which the immediate family members of convicted political criminals were also regarded as political criminals and interned. However, since 1994, there has been a near-abandonment of the use of the family responsibility principle.[20][21]

It has been estimated that a quarter of a million people are still political prisoners, one-third of them are children, and they are routinely forced to perform slave labor, tortured, and raped. According to satellite imagery and the testimonies of defectors, including testimonies by former prison guards, these human rights violations continue unabated.[22]

According to former guards who have defected from North Korea, in the event of the Kim Family Regime's collapse or in the event of another crisis in North Korea, they were ordered to kill all political prisoners. The immediate murder of approximately 120,000 North Korean political prisoners would constitute a genocide.[23]

According to the law which was passed by the North Korean regime, “guilt by association”, a person who is accused of committing a crime and a person who is accused of being politically unreliable and three generations of his or her family members are all sent to the same political prison camp.[23]

The internment camps are located in central and northeastern North Korea. They consist of many prison labour colonies in secluded mountain valleys, completely isolated from the outside world. The total number of prisoners who are incarcerated in the camps is estimated to range from 150,000 to 200,000.[24] Yodok camp and Pukchang camp are separated into two sections: One section for political prisoners who are in lifelong detention, another section which is similar to re-education camps with prisoners who are sentenced to long-term imprisonment which ranges from 5 to 20 years.

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 the prisoners are constantly on the brink of starvation. Along with the hard work, the small food rations cause a huge number of the prisoners to die. It is estimated that 40% of the prisoners die from malnutrition.[25]

Moreover, many prisoners are crippled from work accidents, frostbite or torture. Additionally, a rigid punishment regimen exists in the camps. Prisoners who work too slowly and prisoners who do not obey orders are beaten or tortured.[26] In cases when one prisoner is accused of stealing food or attempting to escape, the other prisoners are publicly executed.

Initially, there were around twelve political prison camps, but some of them were merged or closed (e.g. Onsong prison camp, Kwan-li-so No. 12, following a suppressed riot with around 5,000 dead people in 1987[27]). Today there are six political prison camps in North Korea, with the size determined from satellite images[28] and the number of prisoners estimated by former prisoners and NGOs.[29][30] Most of the camps are documented in testimonies of former prisoners and, for all of them, coordinates and satellite images are available.

01

12

03

02

06

88

04

77

22

Hoeryong

09

11

05

8

08/10

55

07

Reeducation camps in North Korea
(18 out of around 30 - 35)

The reeducation camps for criminals are run by the Ministry of Social Security. There is a fluent passage between common crimes and political crimes, as people who get on the bad side of influential party members 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[35]) 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 they are rigorously punished.[36] Due to the dire prison conditions with hunger and torture,[37] a large percentage of prisoners do not survive their sentence terms.

One account of a North Korean refugee recalls being kicked repeatedly in the stomach by her North Korean guard in an attempt to abort her 5-month-old unborn baby. After losing consciousness during the beatings, she awoke inside the camp's clinic where her baby was forcibly removed.[38]

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 labour in prison factories and in case they do not meet the work quotas, they are tortured and (at least in Kaechon camp) confined for many days in special prison cells, which are too small for them to stand up or lie full-length in.[16]

To be distinguished from the internment camps for political prisoners, the reeducation camp prisoners are forced to undergo ideological instruction after work and they are also forced to memorize the speeches of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and they even have to undergo self-criticism rites. Many prisoners are guilty of common crimes which are also penalized in other countries e. g. illegal border crossing, stealing food or illegal trading.[39]

There are around 15 to 25 reeducation camps in North Korea.[40][41]

In December 2016, the South China Morning Post reported on the existence of a secret prison in Hyanghari, which is euphemistically known as a 'resort,' where members of the country's political elite are imprisoned.[44]

• Human rights in North Korea
• List of concentration and internment camps#Korea, Democratic People's Republic of
• Crimes against humanity under communist regimes
• Mass killings under communist regimes

• 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 Archived 2011-09-08 at the Wayback Machine – 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
• 反人倫犯罪の現場 北朝鮮教化所「第12号 全巨里教化所 編」 (PDF). 北朝鮮難民救援基金 (in Japanese). 北朝鮮難民救援基金/北韓人権国際活動家メアリ. 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2021-11-05.