Kaechon concentration camp - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kaechon concentration camp (Hangeul: , also spelled Kae'chŏn or Gaecheon) is a prison in North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

with many political prisoners. The official name is Kyo-hwa-so (Reeducation camp) No. 1. It is not to be confused with Kaechon internment camp

Kaechon internment camp

Kaechon internment camp is a labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. The official name is Kwan-li-so No. 14. It is not to be confused with Kaechon concentration camp Kaechon internment camp (Hangeul: , also spelled Kae'chŏn or Gaecheon) is a labor camp in North Korea for political...

(Kwan-li-so Nr. 14), which is located 20 km (12.4 mi) to the south-east.

Location

The camp is located in Kae'chŏn county

Kaechon

Kaech'ŏn is a city in South Pyongan Province, North Korea. Kaechon's coordinates are .-Geography:The Myohyangsan, Changansan, Ch'ŏnsŏngsan, and Ch'ŏngryongsan mountain ranges come together in Kaechon. The highest peak is Paekt'apsan. The most important rivers are the Ch'ŏngch'ŏn River and the...

, P'yŏngan-namdo province in North Korea

North Korea

. It is situated on the outskirts of Kaechon city, around 2.5 km (1.6 mi) east of the city center, behind a little hill.

Description

Kaechon concentration camp is a large prison compound, around 300 m (1000 feet) long and 300 m (1000 feet) wide, surrounded by a 4 m (13 feet) high wall with barbed wire on top. The prisoners, around 4000 men and 2000 women (in 1992), are political prisoners mixed with usual criminals. Theoretically prisoners should be released after reeducation through labor and serving their sentence. But as the prison sentences are very long and the conditions are extremely harsh, many do not survive their prison sentences. Ji Hae-nam estimates that during her sentence of two years around 20 % of the prisoners have died.

Purpose

Main purpose of Kaechon camp is to punish people for breaking rules, whereas political crimes (e. g. criticism of the government) are considered as severe offense. But the prisoners are also used as slave workers, who have to fulfill high production quotas in very difficult conditions. For this purpose there is a shoe making factory, a leather and rubber factory, a clothing factory and other factories in the camp.

Human Rights Situation

The prisoners in the camps have no rights and are treated arbitrarily at the guards’ mercy.

Slave Labor

The prisoners are forced to work around 18 hours per day at the camps factories. If someone does not work quickly enough, he or she is beaten. Sometimes prisoners sleep at their workplaces to fulfill the production quota. All this involves many work accidents and many prisoners are crippled from the work or from torture.

Diseases/Hygienics

The prisoners have to sleep crowded with 80 – 90 people in 30 m² (300 square feet) flea infested rooms. They are only occasionally allowed to use the toilet (one for about 300 people) and may only take a shower after several months. Besides the work accidents most diseases like paratyphus result from the bad nutrition.

Malnutrition

Food rations are 100 grams of broken corn three times a day and a salt soup. In case of rule violations food rations are reduced. Lee Soon-ok reported that prisoners even killed rats and ate them raw in order to survive.

Torture

There are 78 punishment cells in the camp, each 60 cm (24 inches) wide and 110 cm (43 inches) high, where prisoners are locked up several days. Afterwards many of them are unable to walk and some even die from this. Prisoners are often beaten, kicked or whipped. Lee Soon-ok was brutally tortured during her sentence being forced to drink a large quantity of water until she fainted (water torture

Water cure (torture)

Water cure as a term for a form of torture refers to a method in which the victim is forced to drink large quantities of water in a short time, resulting in gastric distension, water intoxication and possibly death....

) and almost died from this. During her sentence she witnessed cruel torture many times.

Infanticides

Pregnant women are forced to have abortions by injections. In case still a baby is born alive, it is killed directly at birth.

Executions

Again and again (eight times in 1988) there are public executions in the prison yard in front of all prisoners.

Prisoners (Witnesses)

Lee Soon-ok
Lee Soon Ok
Lee Soon Ok is a former political prisoner and defector from North Korea. She resides in South Korea.-Imprisonment:For six years, Lee was imprisoned in Kaechon concentration camp where she has reported witnessing forced abortions, infanticide, several instances of rape, public executions, testing...

(1987–1992 in Kaechon) was imprisoned on alleged embezzlement of state property, when she refused to put material on the side for her superior. She was sentenced to 13 years in a prison camp, but released earlier under a surprise amnesty.
Ji Hae-nam (1993–1995 in Kaechon) was imprisoned on disruption of the socialist order, as she sang a South Korean pop song and was denunciated by a neighbor. She was sentenced to 3 years in a prison camp, but released after 2 years and 2 months.

External links

United States Senate Hearings: Testimony of Ms. Soon Ok Lee – Lee Soon-oks testimony to the US Senate Judiciary Committee June 21, 2002
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea – Overview on North Korean Prison Camps with Testimonies and Satellite Photographs
Daily NK: North Korean crimes against humanity – Collection of testimonies
Witness reveals horror of North Korean gulag - Report on prison camps, The Guardian, July 19, 2002
A survivor: Soon Ok Lee – 7 years of torture in N. Korean prison camp – Report on Lee Soon-Ok, MSNBC, October 28, 2003

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