The Hidden Gulag - US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

The Hidden Gulag Second EditionPart Two describes the general characteristics of thekwan-li-so political penal labor colonies, and providesthe testimony of 14 former inmates detained therein,along with the observations of three former prisonguards, and workers at the camps.Part Three describes the characteristics andprovides testimony from 12 former prisonersin the kyo-hwa-so long-term penitentiaries thatutilize forced labor with both criminal andpolitical prisoners.Part Four describes the brutal punishments andmistreatments meted out to North Koreans forciblyrepatriated from China, all of whom weredetained and interrogated in police kyu-ru-jangdetention-interrogation facilities before beingsent to jip-kyul-so short-term detention facilitiesor ro-dong-dan-ryeon-dae “labor training centers”which are, in effect, mobile labor brigades, orelse the previously described kwan-li-so forcedlabor camps or kyo-hwa-so penitentiaries.Part Five summarizes two particularly abhorrentatrocities—torture and racially motivated infanticide/forcedabortion—that occur in the variousdetention facilities described in this report.Part Six analyzes the phenomena of repressionaccording to the terms and provisions ofcontemporary international human rights lawand international criminal law.Part Seven provides a series of recommendationsto the DPRK and to other UN Member States ofthe international community.Scope of Information: Documentingthe Hidden GulagFormer North Korean prison detainees andprison guards interviewed for this report weredetained, imprisoned or employed at the followingplaces and times 21 :Kwan-li-so Political Penal-Labor ColoniesKwan-li-so No.14Kaechon, S. Pyongan Province- August 1993 – Oct.1995- 1982–2005Kwan-li-so No. 15Yodok, S. Hamgyong Province- 1970–1978- 1977–1987- Nov. 1987–Feb. 1989- March 1988–1992- April 1995–Jan.1999- 1999–2000- March 2000–April 2003- 2003–2006- 1999–2006Kwan-li-so No. 18Bukchang, S. Pyongan Province- 1977–1983- 1967–1987- Oct. 1995–Sept.1998Kwan-li-so No. 22Hoeryong, N. Hamgyong Province- 1990–1994Kwan-li-so No. 105 (closed) Danchun, S.21 Some of the interviewees who requested anonymity also asked thatthe precise dates of their imprisonment be withheld from publication.18