Chongjin concentration camp
Chongjin concentration camp (Hangeul: 청진 제25호 관리소, also spelled Ch'ŏngjin) is a labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. The official name is Kwan-li-so (Penal-labor colony) No. 25.
Location
The camp is located in Chongjin city, Hamgyŏng-pukto province in North Korea. It is situated in Suseong district (Susŏng-dong) in northern Chongjin, around 500 m (1500 ft) west of Suseong river between two little hills in an area off-limits for Chongjin residents.
Description
Chongjin camp is a lifetime prison without any chance to be released. Like the other political prison camps it belongs to the state security agency.[1] But while the others include many prison-labor colonies in remote mountain valleys encompassing vast land area, Chongjin camp is only one big prison building complex like the reeducation camps. Chongjin camp is around 500 m (1500 ft) long and 500 m (1500 ft) wide, surrounded by high walls and fences and equipped with many guard towers.[2] 3000 or more prisoners are estimated to live in Chongjin camp.[3]
Purpose
Main purpose is to isolate political prisoners from society.[4] The prisoners are exploited for hard labor to be performed in the prison factories. Popular North Korean consumer products like Kalmaegi bicycles [5] are manufactured by prisoners using hand tools.[6]
Human Rights Situation
Until now, no prisoner from Chongjin camp succeeded to escape from North Korea, so there are no first-hand witness accounts on the human rights situation in the camp. Ahn Myung-chul (former prison guard in Haengyong camp) described Chongjin camp as a top-level political prisoner camp,[7] therefore harsh conditions can be assumed.
Prisoners (Witnesses)
- There is no first-hand witness account on the camp, as no prisoner succeeded to escape from North Korea, however there are some reports by North Korean defectors on prisoners in Chongjin camp.[8][9]
- Lim Kook-jae, abducted 1987 on board of the fisher boat Dong Jin 27 (one of thousands of South Koreans abducted to North Korea) died in Chongjin camp, according to a human rights organization.[10]
- Many pastors and presbyters, dissent Korean Japanese and people expelled from Pyongyang with their families are detained in Chongjin camp, according to the 9th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees.[11]
External links
See also
References
- ^ KINU White paper on human rights in North Korea 2009 (Chapter G. Human Rights Violations Inside Political Concentration Camps (Kwanliso), page 131)
- ^ One Free Korea: Camp 25 in Chongjin (satellite images with annotations)
- ^ “Political Prison Colonies in North Korea: System and Repercussions”, 9th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees, Melbourne, March 20, 2009 (page 27)
- ^ KINU White paper on human rights in North Korea 2009 (Chapter G. Human Rights Violations Inside Political Concentration Camps (Kwanliso), page 125, page 127)
- ^ Andrei Lankov: North of the DMZ, essays on daily life in North Korea (McFarland Publishers, 2007), page 144
- ^ KINU White paper on human rights in North Korea 2009 (Chapter G. Human Rights Violations Inside Political Concentration Camps (Kwanliso), page 125)
- ^ KINU White paper on human rights in North Korea 2009 (Chapter G. Human Rights Violations Inside Political Concentration Camps (Kwanliso), page 127)
- ^ KINU White paper on human rights in North Korea 2009 (Chapter G. Human Rights Violations Inside Political Concentration Camps (Kwanliso), page 118, page 136)
- ^ Amnesty International 2004: Starved of rights, section 6.5 The impact of famine and the food crisis on woman
- ^ “Abducted South Korean Dies in a North Korean Political Prison Camp”, The Daily NK, October, 14 2008
- ^ “Political Prison Colonies in North Korea: System and Repercussions”, 9th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees, Melbourne, March 20, 2009 (page 27)