Sovereignty-Centric Perception of Human Rights
B. Detention and Correctional Facilities
enforcement measures such as arrests, investigations, searches and seizures. It is also widely known that laws are not faithfully fol- lowed throughout the enforcement process, even though the law clearly prohibits any violation of human rights or the liberty and security of a person.
2004. Unlimited correctional labor sentences extend 15 years or longer. Limited term sentences range from one to 15 years. Convicts sentenced to unlimited or limited correctional labor punishment are detained in “Correctional Centers (Kyohwaso)” and undergo
“correction through labor” (Art. 30). The criminals sentenced to correctional punishment are typically economic or violent crimi- nals, rather than political criminals, and may be detained in
“Correctional Centers” managed by the Correctional Bureau of the Ministry of People’s Security. In addition to the official correctional facilities, North Korea has been criticized for operating political concentration camps, collection centers, and labor training camps.
Political criminals are incarcerated in “kwanliso” (concentration camps) operated by the “Farm Guidance Bureau” of the State Security Agency. These centers are political concentration camps, often called “control districts” or “special districts for dictatorial control.” At the MPS, the camps that hold former high-ranking officials are also called “kwanliso.” Depending on the nature of the crime, different agencies exercise control over the convicts. For example, the State Security Agency will handle crimes against the state and the people, and the MPS will investigate ordinary criminal cases. The prosecutor’s office handles other crimes involving admin- istrative and economic projects and violations by law enforcement officials and agents (Criminal Procedure Law Art. 122).
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<Table Ⅱ-4> Confinement Facilities
Type of crime Economic criminals and people
Political criminals found guilty of violent crimes
Supervising institution Ministry of People’s Security State Security Agency (Bureau No. 7)
•Correctional Centers (Kyohwaso)
A “correctional centers” is a type of prison facility in North Korea that is similar to a South Korean prison. The People’s Securi- ty Agency operates these centers and they house convicts who have committed serious crimes. Those sentenced to death or
“correctional labor” penalties by the court are detained here, and there is at least one correctional center in each province.84
During the “Pyongyang Festival” period in April of 1995, the North Korean authorities told visiting members of Amnesty International (AI) that there were three correctional centers in North Korea including the “Sariwon Correctional Center,” that about 800 to 1,000 inmates were detained in them, and that about 240 anti-state (political) criminals were held in the “Hyungjaesan Correctional Center.”85During the review process of North Korea’s second periodic report on the ICCPR, a North Korean delegate argued that it was difficult to grant firsthand visits to the members of international human rights organizations because even after North Korea had twice granted such visits to members of AI, the
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84_According to defectors, there are two correctional centers in Hamhung City, South Hamkyung Province: a “correctional center for women” in Sapo District and a “correctional center for men” in Hwasan District. In addition, well-known correctional centers in North Korea include Kaechon Correctional Center, Jonkori Correctional Center, and Susong Correctional Center. (Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on Jan. 19, 2008).
85_There is a “correctional center” for political prisoners near the Brothers Mountain district of Pyongyang. Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on Dec. 23, 2005.
Correctional Centers (Kyohwaso)
Confinement facilities Labor Training Camps Concentration Camps (Rodong Danryeondae) (Kwanliso) Collection Centers (Gypkyeolso)
forces hostile to the Republic were trying to take advantage of North Korea’s human rights situation, irritating the sensitivities of responsible North Korean agencies.
The revised Penal Code of 2009 defines crimes and types of detention, as outlined in Table II-5.
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<Table Ⅱ-5> Types of Crimes and Corresponding Place of Detention Category Correctional centers Designated location
Unlimited term Limited term Labor training Crimes against the Conspiracy to Conspiracy to
state or the people overturn the state overturn the state -
(14 types) (5 types) (14 types)
Inflicting deliberate
Crimes disruptive to damage on weapons, Neglecting Neglecting national defense ammunition, technical preparedness for preparedness for
systems combat equipment and wartime production wartime production (16 types) military installations (15 types) (10 types)
(1 type)
Crimes injurious to Taking or robbing Stealing or robbing Stealing or robbing the socialist economy state properties state properties state properties
(104 types) (6 types) (83 types) (76 types)
Crimes injurious to Smuggling historical Importing and Importing and socialist culture relics and smuggling spreading depraved spreading depraved
(26 types) and selling of narcotics culture culture (3 types) (25 types) (16 types) Crimes injurious to Collective disturbance; Interfering with official
administrative Interfering with business; Creation or
systems -
official business dissemination of false
(39 types) (30 types) information
(29 types) Crimes harmful to Acts of hoodlumism Acts of hoodlumism socialist collective life - or racketeering or racketeering
(20 types) (15 types) (18 types)
Crimes injuring the
Deliberate murder or life or damaging the
kidnapping Deliberate murder Excessive self-defense property of citizens
(4 types) (25 types) (13 types) (26 types)
The Jongori Correctional Center consists of a main facility and an annex. The main facility has two sections known as No. 1 and No. 3. The No. 1 section houses carpenters and auto-repair men. The No. 3 section is a farm which also does animal hus- bandry. The No. 2 and No. 5 sections are located about one-hour walking distance away. These are copper mines. The No. 4 section, a potato farm, is another two-hours walking distance. Our witness served out his term at the No. 4 section, where there were about 400 inmates. From the end of 2007, female inmates began arriving to serve terms at the Jongori Center.86 When our witness began serving there in 2003, the center’s capacity was about 800 inmates, but by the time he left in 2005 there were over 1,600 inmates. An exclusive female correctional center was completed around July 2006.87In short, the Jongori Correctional Center was formerly an all-male center, but it has now been transformed into a co-ed center.
According to defector XXX, visitation rules at Jongori Correctional Center allowed for one visit per inmate every 6 months.88When our witness was serving there in 2004, there was a “3-man open- watch rule” whereby one inmate was responsible for watching three other inmates. These inmates in turn would each be respon- sible for watching three other inmates each, etc. In short, it was a system of mutual watchdog assignments. If any member of the 60 inmate team were to attempt flight, all the others would be sub- jected to punishment. All inmates were required to memorize 10 basic rules, and each rule had sub-rules, so there were at least 30 rules to remember. Also, there were 6 basic rules regarding security agents, which expanded into about 20 rules altogether. All inmates
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were required to memorize all these rules without fail.89
•Labor Training Camps
In some North Korean laws, “labor-training” is listed as one of the “punishment” categories, even though the Penal Code does not contain any such stipulations.
Unable to operate even the correctional centers due to the economic problems, the North Korean authorities have merged some correctional centers, while sending minor offenders to labor training camps instead for 1~6 month terms of forced labor.
Around 1990 in accordance with Kim Jong-il’s directive “on the autonomous correction of light offenders at the county level,”
“labor training camps” are being operated in each city and county.
These camps mainly house those convicted of theft or disruption of collective living and have capacities ranging from 500~2500 people. There is reportedly one such facility for each city and country in the country. Labor training camps were originally known as “education camps” and operated as temporary institu- tions, but they have evolved into permanent “labor training camps.” These camps are operated by an inspector and security officer of the county People’s Security Bureau, two members of the county level KWP Three-Revolution Team, one member of the county-level Youth League’s Committee on Deviant Youth, the commander of the labor training camp, one guidance officer, and one rear guard worker.
Article 18 of the Law on Sentences and Implementation of Decisions specifies the primary reason for suspension of sentences
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as follows: “Any gravely ill person serving correctional labor, labor- training, or unpaid labor punishment, or a pregnant woman in the period three months before to seven months after delivery of a baby, may be released early on a suspended sentence.” As defectors have testified, various types of punishment not listed in the Penal Code would often be imposed and carried out in reality.
Under the revised Penal Code of 2004, North Korea has established “labor training” as a new type of punishment. Labor- training is also defined as a type of penalty under the current Penal Code as revised in 2009. Labor training is a form of punishment wherein the convict is sent off to “a location” for work details. Sen- tences range from six months to two years. For the convict, “two days of labor training” are supposed to count as the equivalent of
“one day at a correctional center.” Article 31 of North Korea’s Penal Code revised in 2004 stipulates, “The citizen’s fundamental rights are guaranteed throughout the period an inmate serves in labor- training punishment.” This provision is fully congruous with the testimonies of North Korean defectors who have served in the labor-training camps or “collection centers.” The “specified facility”
mentioned in the Penal Code appears to mean a “labor-training camp.” As defector XXX testified, two types of inmates are detained in labor-training camps: ordinary criminals arrested for anti-socialist behavior and those sentenced to labor-training punishment. The latter category of inmates would get workloads that differed from those of ordinary inmates. In other words, the camp would sepa- rately manage those with pre-determined service periods. From these testimonies, it is clear that when the Penal Code stipulates that those sentenced to serve labor-training penalties are to be detained in a “specified facility,” it clearly means a “labor-training camp.” In short, two different types of inmates are detained in the
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labor-training camps, but those with prescribed service periods fall under separate management inside the camp. This appears to be the result of adding “labor-training” as a new category of penalty in the Penal Code revision of 2004.90
As mentioned above, North Korea amended its Penal Code in 2004, it introduced a new type of penalty called “labor training.”
Many North Korean defectors have testified that North Korean courts have handed down sentences of labor training based on the revised code. Since this is a significant new development, it would be worth describing an appropriate case in detail.
Mr. XXX was arrested in Yanji (Yeongil) City, China, on April 2, 2005. He had to undergo investigation and interrogation by the Onsung Security Agency from April 13 to May 11. He was detained in the provincial collection center at Nongpo-dong, Ranam District, Chongjin City from May 11 to July 14. From July 15 to September 20, he was held in the Musan County People’s Security Agency detention center. He was tried on September 8 at the Musan County Court, which sentenced him to one year of labor training. He was then imprisoned in Section 3 of the Jeungsan Correctional Center from September 22 to November 2, at which point he was released as his “labor training” term was over. Although the term was for one year, for the local resident of Musan County, the calculation of the term was as follows: Each day at the correctional center was counted as the equivalent of two days of his labor training term, and counting of the term was said to start from the date of deportation. Consequently, he was released from the Jeungsan Correctional Center after serving only about 40 days at the center. At the end of his trial the Musan
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Court judge said, “Serving in a correctional center is hard and painful. If anyone were to serve there long-term, he would almost certainly die or would be unable to support his family afterwards.
So the idea was that we had better release the inmates as soon as possible so that they could contribute to the welfare of the Musan County residents in general.” Participating in the trial process were one judge, one defense attorney, four mature men who participat- ed in the sentencing phase (of which one person testified he was from a committee), two indicted persons (of whom one was wait- ing for his turn), one guarantor, and two guards (one security agent and one sergeant). The judge and 3 of the 4 mature men left the courtroom for 2~3 minutes, and when they returned, the judge said, “The indicted person, Kim XX, is hereby sentenced to serve one year of labor training.” Following this, the judge said he would count one day served in the correctional facility as two days of service in an effort to help out the local residents of Musan.
Defector XXX testified that he had to go through a pretrial in 2005 and received a formal trial before he was locked up in a “labor- training camp.”91
However, detainment in labor-training camps without trial still continues as a general and routine practice. This practice per- sists even though a significant amount of time has passed since North Korea revised its Penal Code in 2004 requiring labor-training penalties to be imposed only through trials. Defector XXX testified that there is usually no trial for inmates sent off to labor-training camps because the penalty does not affect the status of one’s citi- zenship card. Detailed records of one’s service at labor-training camps are kept in the Safety Agency, but they do not appear on
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other documents that are necessary for normal activities.92Defector XXX testified that he/she was sent off to a labor-training camp without a trial.93Defector XXX also testified that he/she served in a labor-training camp in Hweryong City for four months from December 2004 to March 2005 without a trial.94
As the above testimony shows, there seems to be an attempt to follow the formal trial procedures prescribed in the Penal Code even in cases subject to penalties of labor training. Sometimes one day of service at a correctional center is counted as two days of labor training. In the above case, the judge’s method of calculation was somewhat unusual and his explanations in favor of local resi- dents were somewhat extra-legal. Nevertheless, the fact that the revised Penal Code procedures are being faithfully followed at the lower levels is an encouraging development.
165 of the 245 articles contained in North Korea’s Penal Code mention punishment by labor training. Those convicted of more serious crimes are sentenced to a term of ‘correctional labor’
(at a normal correctional center). Without exception, the “labor training” penalty is not given for anti-state crimes. However, more than half of the crimes involving national defense will result in labor training penalties. Labor training is the preferred sentence in almost all crimes involving economic and land management, envi- ronmental protection, labor administration and socialist culture.
“Labor-training camps” began to appear in the year 2001. This decision was perhaps made in response to international criticism that there were too many “correctional labor centers” in North Korea. In any event, violators of the law are now being sentenced
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to “labor-training” penalties and sent to “labor-training camps”
instead of “correctional labor camps.”95 Most crimes involving disturbances of social order are also punishable by labor training, and such penalties are rendered for newly declared crimes. In fact, the 39 articles in the code relating to new crimes mandate punish- ments exclusively in terms of labor training. According to defec- tors in South Korea, the crimes subject to labor training punish- ment in the 2004 Criminal Law revision are consistent with the crimes of people sent to labor training camps before the revision.
– According to defectors, the Security Office supervises the daily “punch cards.” Anyone failing to report to work for about a month will be sent off to a “labor training camp”
for a month.96 The absentees (or jobless persons) would be sent off to the labor training camps (“ganglands.”)97 – Defector XXX testified that his close friend who was
unemployed for three months had been detained in the labor-training camp in the Sinam District of Chongjin.98 – The brother of defector XXX was arrested while helping
activate someone’s cell phone. He was detained for a month in the provincial collection center and subsequently detained for six months in a labor-training camp.99
– Defector XXX testified that at the end of 2007 a friend of her daughter was arrested while watching a South Korean video tape. She had to spend six months at the Wonsan Labor-Training Camp.100
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95_Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on Jan. 20, 2006.
96_Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on Jan. 19, 2008.
97_Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on Jan. 30, 2008.
98_NKHR2008000030 2008-12-23.
99_NKHR2008000004 2008-07-17.
100_NKHR2008000025 2008-11-20.
– Defector XXX testified that he and three of his friends had to serve six months in a labor-training camp for using drugs (“ice”) in December 2007.101
– Defector XXX testified that he/she was locked up in the Hweryong City labor training camp for one month in June 2008 on charges of using mobile phones.102
– Defector XXX testified that when he was detained by the Hyesan City Security Agency in July 2008 he saw an inmate, XXX, being sent to a labor training camp on charges of fortune-telling.103
The following are partial descriptions of a labor-training camp. No. 55 Labor-Training Camp in Hamhung City used to be No. 22 Camp; the number changed in 2000. This camp was divid- ed into Sections 1, 2, and 3. Section 1 was the main office and Section 2 dealt with agricultural work. Section 3 dealt with min- ing.104In each camp, there is usually one security agent from the Security Agency, one training chief, one employee from the Labor Section of the local People’s Committee, and one female employee in charge of grain statistics.105 Labor-training camps also operate
“Educational Training Units for Boys.” Defector XXX testified that in July 2003 a student named XXX was detained at the Nampo Educational Training Unit for Boys for watching a South Korean CD.106It is also reported that the military operates its own labor- training camps. Defector XXX testified that there were military
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labor-training camps in Danchon (South Hamkyung Province) and Haechang, South Pyongan Province.107
•Collection Centers (Jipkyeolso)
“Collection centers” are similar to “correctional centers.”
Staff at collection centers investigate and detain various offenders for six months to a year—without trial or revocation of citizen- ship. Detainees include defectors, those who have transgressed their designated areas or overstayed their travel permits, those on
“wanted lists,” and ordinary “juvenile delinquents.” It has been reported that at various provincial collection centers, brutal acts are perpetrated on suspects to obtain admissions of guilt.108 If a person is caught traveling without a permit, he is sent to a “collec- tion center.”109The cases handled by collection centers include those that are not serious enough for “correctional centers” but are too serious to send off to “labor training camps.” Examples include workplace incidents (morally delinquent behavior such as failure to attend work or group training sessions) and accidental homicides by medical doctors or vehicle drivers.110Each provincial govern- ment runs a “central collection center.” Anyone at these central collection centers caught trying to escape is put to death.
•Arbitrary Detention and Torture
In fact, according to the testimonies of defectors, inhumane
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108_Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on Jan. 19, 2005.
109_Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on Jan. 18, 2005.
110_Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on Jan. 10, 2004.