Kae'chŏn re-education camp

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Korean spelling
Korean alphabet : 개천 제 1 호 교화소
Hanja : 价 川 第一 號 敎 化 所
Revised Romanization : Gaecheon Je1ho Gyohwaso
McCune-Reischauer : Kae'chŏn Che1ho Kyohwaso

The Kae'chŏn Re-education Camp (also Kaechon or Gaecheon ) is a prison in North Korea . The official name is Kyo-hwa-so (Re-education Camp) No. 1 . It should not be confused with the Kaech'ŏn internment camp ( Kwan-li-so No. 14), which is about 20 kilometers southeast of it.

location

The camp is located in Kae'chŏn County, P'yŏngan-namdo Province in North Korea . It is located on the outskirts of Kae'chŏn town, about 2.5 kilometers east of the city center, behind a hill.

description

The Kae'chŏn re-education camp is a 90-hectare complex surrounded by four-meter-high walls. The estimated 4,000 male and almost 2,000 female prisoners (as of 1992) are said to include political prisoners and government critics as well as criminals who have otherwise come into conflict with North Korean law. In principle, the prisoners should be released again after re-education through work and serving the prison sentence. Former prisoner Ji Hae-nam estimates that around 20 percent of prisoners died during her two-year prison term.

working conditions

It is said that prisoners are forced to do labor with high production standards for about 18 hours a day. Inside the camp there is a shoe factory, a leather and rubber factory, a factory for the manufacture of clothing, a tailor's shop and other businesses. Failure to achieve the production specifications can be punished with physical violence, which can often lead to accidents and cripples.

Human rights situation

Inadequate hygiene and nutrition can lead to an increased spread of contagious diseases such as paratyphoid in the camp .

According to eyewitness reports, the prisoners sleep with up to 80 or 90 people in rooms about 30 square meters. Around 300 detainees have to share a toilet. Toilet visits are only permitted temporarily. A shower is not available for several months.

Each prisoner is entitled to 100 grams of cornmeal and a soup three times a day as a food ration. Violations of the rules lead to a reduction in the food rations. Lee Soon-ok reported how prisoners ate rats due to poor food distribution.

There are 78 punishment cells in the camp with a width of 60 centimeters and a height of 110 centimeters, in which prisoners are locked up for several days in the event of violations. Blows, kicks and lashes are also part of the penal system. Lee Soon-ok testified that she was tortured by being given water until she was unconscious. This practice has been known internationally as " waterboarding " since it was increasingly used in the USA . The eyewitness claimed to have seen six Christians doused with molten iron in the iron foundry and killed because they refused to deny their beliefs and convert to the Chuch'e ideology .

Pregnant prisoners are forced to have abortions by injection. Even so, babies born alive are killed immediately after birth.

Again and again, eight times in 1988, there were executions by shooting in front of the prisoners in the prison yard.

Prisoners (eyewitnesses)

  • Lee Soon-ok (1987–1992 in Kaechon) was imprisoned for embezzlement of state property for refusing to divert material for a supervisor. She was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but released early for good conduct.
  • Ji Hae-nam (1993–1995 in Kaechon) was imprisoned for disrupting the socialist order because she had been reported after she had sung a South Korean hit. She was sentenced to three years in prison but was pardoned early after two years and two months.

Web links

Individual evidence

Due to the current political situation, the article is primarily based on information from US government agencies. Verification by other neutral or Korean sources is not possible.

  1. ↑ Google Maps: The city of Kae'chŏn and the re-education camp, as of August 12, 2009
  2. ^ The Hidden Gulag - Satellite imagery of the North Korean Gulag: Kyo-hwa-so No. 1 Kaechon Overview (page 225). (PDF; 5.5 MB) The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, accessed on September 21, 2012 .
  3. ^ The Hidden Gulag: Kyo-hwa-so Long-Term Prison-Labor Facilities (Section: Testimony Kyo-hwa-so No. 1 Kaechon) (pp. 100-103). (PDF; 5.5 MB) The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, accessed on September 21, 2012 .
  4. ↑ a b c Eyewitness account - The North Korean Gulag. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 17, 2010, accessed on May 22, 2019 (Note: This individual reference only cites the aforementioned Testimony Kyo-hwa-so No. 1 Kaechon ).
  5. ^ The Hidden Gulag: Kyo-hwa-so Long-Term Prison-Labor Facilities (Section: Testimony Kyo-hwa-so No. 1 Kaechon) (pp. 100-105). (PDF; 5.5 MB) The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, accessed on November 24, 2012 .
  6. ↑ a b c Testimony of Ms. Soon Ok Lee. In: judiciary.senate.gov. US Senate Judiciary Committee, June 21, 2002, archived from original September 22, 2008 ; accessed on May 3, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Article “Eyewitness Report: The North Korean Gulag”, Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 12, 2009 ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sueddeutsche.de
  8. ^ The Hidden Gulag: Kyo-hwa-so Long-Term Prison-Labor Facilities (Section: Testimony Kyo-hwa-so No. 1 Kaechon) (pp. 100-103). (PDF; 5.5 MB) The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, accessed on November 24, 2012 .

Coordinates: 39 ° 42 ′ 30 ″  N , 125 ° 55 ′ 24 ″  E