North Korea is well-known for its missiles, nukes, and horrendous human rights record, specifically the atrocities at its many prison facilities — and these conditions have now been further detailed.
The Department of State recently released a report detailing conditions at North Korea’s extremely brutal outdoor prison camps. “Induced starvation is common among prisoners, who are driven to catch and eat rodents, frogs, and snakes,” the report, based on information from the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea, read.
The report exposes the atrocities at five active camps — Camp 14 Kaechon, Camp 25 Chongjin, Camp 16 Hwasong, Camp 18 Pukchang, and Camp 15 Yodok — and Camp 22 Hoeryong, which reportedly closed several years ago.
The camps are political prison facilities for those been deemed “enemies of the state,” officials who have performed poorly, people criticized the regime, and people who have engaged in anti-state activities. Some prisoners are victims of the North’s “three generations of punishment” policy. Many North Korean people have spent their lives in prison without ever committing an actual crime. North Korea uses its prisoners as slave labor in industries such as mining, textiles, farming, and raising livestock. The abused prisoners at Hwasong have, according to unconfirmed reports, been involved in construction at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site.
The camps can hold anywhere between 5,000 and 50,000 people. Amnesty International estimates that there may be as many as 200,000 people wasting away in North Korean prison camps.
“Large numbers of prisoners died of malnutrition, disease, and work accidents, and administrators ordered public executions for escape attempts,” the Department of State reported, writing on conditions at the Pukchang facility.
Defectors — former guards and escaped prisoners — have revealed horrific details about Hoeryong. Ahn Myong-chol, a former guard at the camp, “estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 prisoners, mostly children, died annually of malnutrition during his years there,” the recent report introduced. He said that prisoners who were sent to the brutal punishment chambers were often crippled after three months and dead by five.
Ahn revealed that guards are taught not to see prisoners as human beings.
“Those who die are the lucky ones,” Lim Hye-jin, the first former female guard to speak openly about her experiences, revealed earlier this year. She said that women were regularly raped, and if a woman became pregnant, the child would be forcibly aborted. In some cases, they simply killed the prisoner.
Torture is the norm in these camps. Lim said that she once saw a guard strip a woman naked and set her on fire because she annoyed him.
Once, when two brothers broke out of prison, the prison guards murdered seven of their family members on the spot, and numerous other prisoners were beaten severely. After they were recaptured, the two brothers were beheaded, Lim, who defected over a decade ago, told reporters.
“The two brothers were beheaded in front of everyone,” she revealed, “They called everyone to watch as a warning not to flee. The other prisoners then had to throw stones at them.” Such are the conditions in North Korea’s prison facilities, which are scattered all around the country.
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