The Reality of Civil and Political Rights
C. Human Rights Abuses inside Detention and Correctional Facilities
Serious levels of torture, forced labor, beatings and other inhumane and degrading treatment are practiced inside North Korea’s Correctional Centers, Labor Training Camps, Short-Term Labor Detention Facilities, and various detention and correctional facilities.
Furthermore, forced labor, torture, beatings, and other inhumane treatment often result in serious injury and illness.
Furthermore, many inmates end up dying as a result of poor nutri- tion, inferior sanitation, and the lack of timely medical attention.
In its second regular report to the UN Civil and Political Rights Committee, North Korea stated that the conditions at its detention and correctional facilities were clearly stipulated in the
“Regulations for Correctional Administration” and were fully enforced. But the reality belies these assertions; human rights abuses in Correctional Centers, including torture, beatings and inhumane treatment, remain at very serious levels.
•The Reality of Forced Labor
<Correctional Center>
North Korea’s Labor Law defines a normal work day to be 8 hours long (Art. 16 of the Socialist Labor Law, Art. 36 of the Labor Protection Law). However, prison inmates work 10 hours per day.
According to the testimony of a defector who was detained in the Jeungsan Correctional Center, all inmates work 10 hours a day and this work schedule is strictly observed. They wake up at 5:00 a.m., eat breakfast at 5:30, take roll call at 6:30, and begin work at 7:00 a.m. The afternoon work shift runs from 1 to 6 p.m. (or until
9 p.m. during the farming season). Every 15th day the inmates take a day off, but during the peak farming seasons in the spring and fall, there are no off days. Compared to Labor Training Camps, the level of work at Correctional Centers is not as intense, but the level of discipline is much tougher. Defector XXX testified that he served in the Jongori Correctional Center from March to November of 2009, and the intensity of work was normal, but the discipline was much tougher.110
Testimonies also reveal that prison terms can be shortened in exchange for forced labor.
– Defector XXX testified that his sentence was shortened by twenty days in exchange for intensive farm work and wig making while he was detained in the Jeongeori Correctional Center in May 2009.111
<Labor Training Camps>
Although inmates were allowed to keep their Party member- ships and citizen IDs, the workload and level of education was so heavy and intensive over a short period of time that serving at a Labor Training Camp was more physically demanding than at a Correctional Center. Most defectors testified that the intensity of labor at Labor Training Camps is much higher than at Correctional Centers, though the service term in the former is shorter.
– Defector XXX testified that “it would be better to serve a few years at a Correctional Center; because long-term inmates serve there, they do not put you through harsh training. But Labor Training Centers and Short-Term Labor Detention Facilities are very hard because the terms there
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133 are much shorter, so they put you through harsh treatment.
There’s no mercy, and they treat people like dogs.”112 – Defector XXX, who was detained in the Labor Training
Camp in Nampo for three months from July to September 2000, testified he had to get up at 4:30 in the morning and go to bed at 10 p.m. He had to work without any breaks except for a five minute lunch break. Each meal consisted of half an ear of a boiled corn and radish greens without seasoning.113
– Defector XXX testified that he was detained in the Kim Hyung-jik-gun Labor Training Camp in Yanggang Province in February 2009, and the inmates had to work without any break except for just a 10-minute lunch break.114 – Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the
Labor Training Camp in Hweryeong, he had to work from morning to night, and the workload was very intense.
After he was released from the camp, his son told him he had become very skinny.115
– Defector XXX testified that he was detained in the Labor Training Camp in Gimchaek in January 2010. While there, he was assigned to tunnel construction sites and road construction sites. He had to get up at 5:30 a.m. and worked from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. After that, he had to attend the life-assessment meeting and an education program, and he usually went to bed at around midnight.116
– Defector XXX testified that he was serving in the Kim
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Hyung-jik-gun Labor Training Camp in Yanggang Province in June of 2010, and he had to work until 11 pm and then also receive ideology education afterward.117
It is clear that some security agents provide manpower to the units engaged in foreign currency earning and illegally make money in collusion with those units.
– Defector XXX testified that if a workplace needed more workers for a construction project, they would put in a request to the People’s Security Agency, and the agency would dispatch inmates detained at Short-Term Labor Detention Facilitys; the company would in turn pay money to the agency.118
– Defector XXX testified that the labor at a Labor Training Camp mainly consists of temporary duties at various work places which are in need of workers. The Inspector’s Section would step in to pressure the camp to dispatch workers for hard labor. The inmates were also mobilized for the con- struction of a “Bean Milk Facility” funded by international assistance groups to help improve children’s nutrition.119
<Short-Term Labor Detention Facilities>
Some Labor Detention Facilities impose forced labor, though there are some differences in treatment. In particular, those inmates who had stayed in China for relatively longer periods of time or those repatriated after many failed defection attempts are subjected to more severe forced labor.
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135 – Defector XXX, who was detained in the Cheongjin Labor
Detention Facility from August 30 to November 18 in 2009, testified that inmates sometimes got up at four o’clock in the morning and worked well into the night.120
– Defector XXX, who was detained in Sinuiju Labor Detention Facility for 40 days from June to July in 2010, testified that those inmates who stayed for long periods in China or made frequent defection attempts are gathered into working groups and experience harsh forced labor.121
Labor Detention Facilities implement a “contract system” to check whether each inmate has completed his individual task.
This system is thought to be a factor that affects the intensity of labor in the Labor Detention Facilities.
– Defector XXX testified that he once performed forced labor at the Sinuiju Labor Detention Facility and that he had to endure the intense work and long work hours because of the contract system.122
There is no compensation for inmates’ labor. Rather, in some cases, inmates have to pay for their own living expenses incurred during the detention period.
– Defector XXX, who was once detained in a Labor Detention Facility in Hyesan, testified that he had to pay his living expenses.123
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•The Reality of Inhumane Treatment
Harsh treatment methods such as beatings and torture are still reported to be prevalent at various detention and correctional facilities, including Correctional Centers, Labor Training Camps and Detention Facilities. Some defectors witnessed cases where inhumane treatment resulted in serious injury, illness and even death. These inhumane treatment resulted in serious injury, illness and even death. These inhumane treatment methods are often inflicted by security agents at the detention centers or correctional facilities. According to one testimony, this practice became routine because security agents worried that if they inflicted harsh treatment themselves, complaints might be filed with them. However, this practice seems to be encouraged by the North Korean authorities who are mindful of outside criticism.
<Correctional Center>
Human rights violations, such as beatings and inhumane treatment, were pervasive in all Correctional Centers. In particular, numerous testimonies centered around the Jeongeori Correctional Center.
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the Jeongeori Correctional Center in Hweryeong-si, he was beaten with a rifle butt for helping a weak fellow inmate.124 – Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the Jeongeori Correctional Center in July of 2009, he was unable to work due to fever. Because of this, an agent beat him and he suffered from back pain.125
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137 – Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the
Jeongeori Correctional Center in October 2010, he was beaten and kicked as punishment for having been caught giving corn to his cousin.126
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the Jeongeori Correctional Center in March 2010, he witnessed XXX beaten by a security agent after a note was found which expressed an intent to file a petition against the agent. XXX had quarreled with the agent many times.127 – Defector XXX testified that he saw a female inmate beaten
to death while he was detained in the Jeongeori Correc- tional Center in January 2011. When she died, black- colored water came out from her mouth, so camp officials concluded that she died from eating rubbish, not from the beating.128
<Labor Training Camps>
As in the Correctional Centers, incidents of beating in Labor Training Camps were very frequent.
– Defector XXX testified that he saw his aunt XXX being beaten because of her poor work performance at the Labor Training Camp in February 2010.129
– Defector XXX testified that on February 16, 2010, while he was detained in the Labor Training Camp in Gimchaek, North Hamgyeong Province, he saw a fellow inmate beaten to death by a security agent because he had stolen and
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eaten goats feed (boiled corn).130
– Defector XXX testified that during his detention in the Labor Training Camp located in the Mt. Dongheung region of Hamheung in March 2010, he saw fellow inmate XXX beaten. The security agents forced inmates to beat fellow inmates for fear that if the agents themselves inflicted the beating, complaints might be filed against them.131
– Defector XXX testified that when he happened to see his next-door neighbor after her discharge from the Labor Training Camp in Deokcheon-gun, South Pyeongan Province in May 2010, she had been beaten so frequently that he could not recognize her face.132
– Defector XXX testified that he heard that an inmate named Cho Myeong-seong beat fellow inmates at the instruction of agents inside the Labor Training Camp in Bukchang in August 2010.133
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the Labor Training Camp in Bocheon-gun, Yanggang Province in September 2010, he saw his group leader smash a fellow inmate XXX with a club for not following his instructions.134
<Short-Term Labor Detention Facilities>
Like Labor Training Camps, Short-Term Labor Detention Facilities are a type of detention facility not stipulated in the penal code. However, the level and frequency of human rights violations such as beatings in these centers is known to be very serious. Most
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139 defector testimonies singled out the situation in the provincial Short- Term Labor Detention Facility in Chongjin City, North Hamgyeong Province.
The provincial Short-Term Labor Detention Facility in Chongjin City holds only those who were caught after crossing the border illegally. There are about 1,500 detainees in the center at any given time. These people are held until People’s Security agents from their hometowns come to pick them up and escort them back to their respective hometowns. Those from Chongjin, Hweryong, and other cities within the province are released within six months, but those from Pyongan and Hwanghae provinces have to wait for up to a year or more. Very few people from these inner provinces attempt to cross the border. Due to poor means of transportation to and from these provinces, Social Safety agents often neglect to pick up their residents in Short-Term Labor Detention Facilities even after being notified of their detention.135
– Defector XXX testified that while she was in a Short-Term Labor Detention Facility in Sariwon, Hwanghae Province in 2008, she saw a People’s Safety agent order a group leader to beat all of her fellow inmates because a female inmate refused to respond to his instructions to sing a song.136
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the provincial Short-Term Labor Detention Facility in Cheongjin in August 2009, a fellow inmate called Sergeant XXX kicked and beat him because he did not work fast enough.137 – Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in
the provincial Short-Term Labor Detention Facility in
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Cheongjin from November 2009 to February 2010, X Cheol-yong (a-21-to-25-year old sergeant) beat him with a club because of his poor work and lack of speed.138 – Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the
provincial Short-Term Labor Detention Facility in Cheongjin in 2010, an inmate named XXX was the group leader. One day, after this inmate made an insulting remark about a security agent, some inmates who did not get along with him secretly reported it to the agent. The defector testified that XXX was being beaten by the People’s Safety agents, and died a few days later.139
<Detention Facilities>
Beating, torture, or harsh treatment as a form of punishment has been routine in the Ministry of People’s Security Detention Facility.
– Defector XXX testified that when he was detained in the Safety Agency Detention Facility in Musan in April 2009, he saw X Jong-cheol, an investigation official between 36 and 40 years old, kick and beat XXX, a suspect, with a club. The suspect was detained in the Detention Facility on charges of bike theft. Defector X Jong-cheol inflicted inhumane treatment on the suspect, injuring his leg and causing him to limp. Later, the victim was sent to a Labor Training Camp. After four months of detainment in the camp, he eventually had the injured leg amputated.140 – Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the
city Security Agency Detention Facility in Hyesan City, his
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141 entire group experienced hazing punishment. They were ordered to stand at attention and struck with fists.141 – Defector XXX testified that when he was detained in the
People’s Safety Ministry’s Detention Facility in the Botong River area of Pyongyang in July 2009, he saw XXX, a fellow detainee, deprived of sleep for three days and beaten by hand for half a day. The victim had been detained on drug possession charges after receiving drugs in exchange for lending 2,000 dollars to a security agent.142
Many defectors have testified that serious incidents of human rights violations have occurred inside the Onsung-gun Security Agency. It appears that strict controls are being enforced at the detention points of the security agencies along the border as the number of defectors had increased. Maintaining order is said to have become more difficult but absolutely imperative. Other inhumane treatment, such forcing inmates to remain in fixed positions for long periods of time, can be imposed instead of forced labor.
– Defector XXX testified that he was detained at the Security Agency Detention Facility in Onseong for 15 days in May 2009. While there, he had to sit still for two hours with only with a brief five-minute break.143
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the Security Agency Detention Facility in Onseong in June 2009, a security agent named Lee Jong-cheol (between 31 and 35 years old) beat him for three days on end, while urging him to confess who had trafficked him.144
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– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the Security Agency Detention Facility in Onseong in 2000, he saw a security agent beat a fellow inmate for not telling the truth. Afterward, he was hospitalized for a month.145 – Defector XXX was detained in the Security Agency Detention
Facility in Sinuiju in February 2011. Every time he wanted to go to the bathroom, he had to get a permission by asking
“May inmate number XX in room XX go to the bathroom?”
He sometimes had to hold his hand up for thirty minutes before he received permission. After going to the bathroom, he also had to ask for permission to sit back down on the prison floor; again, he might be made to stand still for thirty minutes before permission was granted.146
•The Reality of Malnutrition, Poor Medical Service and Death
<Correctional Centers>
Because of inferior conditions in the Correctional Centers, the inmates suffer from poor quality of food, sanitation, medicine, etc., and in many cases infirm inmates died. As with the various forms of inhumane treatments outlined above, a number of defec- tors’ testimonies on this topic refer to the Jeongeori Correctional Center. It seems that a minimum amount of care is given to the gravely ill, namely allowing them to be off-duty. According to reports, medicine and medical treatment are not provided to inmates.
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143 – Defector XXX testified that many inmates inside the
Jeongeori Correctional Center died of a high fever during a two-month period from May to July in 2009. He heard that about 300 inmates died from the disease in 2009, and the death toll rose higher in 2010. The hygiene situation of female building became better because the building was newly renovated. However, the building for the male inmates was old and dirty, which, in turn, shot up the death toll.147
– Defector XXX testified that he saw a fellow inmate die from fever and physical exhaustion on July 10, 2009, while he was detained in the Jeongeori Correctional Center. He said the Jeongeori Correctional Center classified gravely ill persons into three categories: Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3. Those classified in Grade 3 were exempted from forced labor and given additional food, but did not receive medical treatment. The ill took up four rooms, and those with liver disease and tuberculosis were housed separately. The patients had to pay for their own medicine and treatment, but even then all they received were injections of saline solution.148
– Defector XXX testified that when he was detained in the Jeongeori Correctional Center in December 2009, he saw a fellow inmate die from disease and overwork. According to his testimony, the body, after being briefly stored in the hospital, was taken away in a cart to Bulmang Hill, where it was cremated. Beginning in 2009 the Jeongeori Correctional Center established a section for the gravely ill, and that is
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