Sovereignty-Centric Perception of Human 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, collection points, and various detention and correctional facilities.
129
113_UN General Assembly Sixty-fifth session Third Committee, “Draft Resolution: Sit- uation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” UN Doc.
A/C.3/65/L.47 (28 October 2010).
Furthermore, forced labor, torture, beatings, and other inhumane treatment often result in serious injury and illness. Fur- thermore, 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
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. Another defector, who spent time in the Jeungsan Correctional Center from March 15, 2005 to May 24, 2006, testified that he used to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and go to bed at 10:00 p.m. Morning work ran from 8:00 to 12:00 and after- noon work from 1:30 to 7:30. When the workload mounted, he had to work overtime.114Compared to labor-training camps, the 130
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.115
Despite the existence of labor training camps, North Korea claimed in its second periodic report that there was no “hard labor” in North Korea except for correctional labor punishments.
It explained that there was no legal basis to impose sentences of hard labor against violators of law and order except for sentences of correctional labor punishment handed out at formal trials, North Korea said it does not impose any labor punishment as a means of political, social, or religious control. There are, however,
“detention points.” These are facilities designed to temporarily house suspects under interrogation and those formally sentenced before sending them off to correctional centers. However, accord- ing to defectors’ testimonies, torture and beatings are routine in the detention points. Furthermore, all defectors testified that all labor training camps used forced labor. Although inmates were allowed to maintain their Party membership and citizen ID, 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 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 train-
131
114_Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on March 17, 2007.
115_NKHR2010000015 2010-10-05.
ing. But labor-training centers and collection points are very hard because the terms there are much shorter, so they put you through harsh treatment. There’s no mercy, and they treat people like dogs.”116Similar testimonies were also documented in the personal interviews conducted in 2010.
– Defector XXX testified that he served in the Jeungsan Labor Training Camp in South Pyong-an Province from June 2004 to September 2005, and the work was so hard that he thought he would rather die. He said he would prefer death to going back to the Jeungsan Labor Training Camp.117
– Defector XXX testified that he served in Baikam Labor Training Camp in Yanggang Province in April and May of 2008. The work assignment was to raze off a hill in Baikam County and build a reservoir there, and it was very tough.118
– Defector XXX testified that he served in the provincial training camp in Hweryong City in May of 2008, and he had to work 11-12 hours a day. Sometimes he worked 14 hours a day.119
– Defector XXX testified that he was detained in Kyungwon (Sebyol) County, Hweryong City, from March to Septem- ber 2008. He said if the inmates failed to meet the daily workload, the agents would force them to work through the night.120
– Defector XXX testified that he was detained in the Kim
132
116_NKHR2009000015 2009-03-17.
117_ NKHR2010000019 2010-10-12.
118_NKHR2011000018 2011-01-18.
119_NKHR2010000092 2010-06-22.
120_NKHR2010000034 2010-11-02.
Kyung-jik County 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.121
– Defector XXX testified that he was serving in the Kim Hyung-jik County 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.122
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 collection points; the company would in turn pay money to the agency.123 – 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.124
133
121_NKHR2010000017 2010-10-05.
122_NKHR2010000014 2010-10-05.
123_NKHR2009000024 2009-04-20.
124_NKHR2009000031 2009-05-12.
•The Reality of Inhumane Treatment
Human rights violations, such as beatings and inhumane treatment, were pervasive in all correctional centers. Correctional officers (or ‘guides’) would sometimes hit inmates, but more often the inmates would beat up other inmates under orders from the officers. This inhumane treatment would often result in serious injury or illness.
– Defector XXX testified that he was detained in the Hwery- ong City Correctional Labor Center in January of 2006.
He said the agents would deprive the inmates of sleep.
They had to sit up for 4 hours, or sometimes as much as 6 hours, during the sleeping hours.125
– Defector XXX testified that in December 2007 he was serving in the Jongori Correctional Center. As his group was marching toward a lumber yard, he was ordered to kneel down and the agent kicked and beat him so severely with his rifle butt that the man hurt his back and could not stand up again; this was done simply because he had gotten slightly out of line while marching.126
As in the correctional centers, incidents of beating in labor training centers were very frequent. This was also confirmed dur- ing the personal interviews conducted in 2010.
– Defector XXX testified that he served in Hweryong City labor training center in March 2004. Because his work performance was unsatisfactory, the agents forced him to do things like stand holding 30kg of water or carry a sack
134
125_NKHR2010000010 2010-09-14.
126_NKHR2009000059 2009-09-29.
of rocks up a mountain, and they also forced him to endure mosquito bites in the heat of summer. As a result, he was suffering from chronic pain and blood would come out when he coughed.127
– Defector XXX testified that he served in the provincial labor training camp in the Chong-am District of Chongjin in October of 2007. He was beaten so badly that he sus- tained a serious leg injury, and ultimately he got out on a medical release.128
– Defector XXX testified that he served in Musan County labor training camp. The agents locked his legs into fet- ters, forced him to kneel, and stepped on his knees.129
Like labor-training camps, collection centers 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 defector testi- monies singled out the situation in the provincial collection center in Chongjin City, North Hamkyung Province.
The provincial collection center 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 peo- ple 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
135
127_NKHR2011000006 2010-03-23.
128_NKHR2011000095 2010-03-23.
129_NKHR2010000044 2010-11-02.
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 resi- dents in collection centers even after being notified of their deten- tion.130The following are examples of testimonies on specific inci- dents of inhumane treatment at collection points:
– Defector XXX testified that when he was detained in the Nongpo Collection Center in Chongjin in December 2006, an 18-year-old girl died. If an inmate died in the camp, the responsible party would be penalized. So they performed an autopsy on her body. The autopsy concluded that the girl had died of diarrhea.131
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained at the Hyesan Collection Point in March of 2008 he saw an agent strike an inmate on the head with a rifle butt. The inmate was bleeding profusely but he was not treated at all.132 – Defector XXX testified that while he was detained at the
Nongpo Collection Point in Chung-am District, Chongjin City, in August 2008, a security agent XXX (age 40 at the time) struck him with his fist for having some Chinese currency in his possession.133
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained at the Provincial Collection Point in Chongjin City in August 2009, an agent beat him up for taking a break in the mid- dle of work. Afterwards, he could not hear very well, and mucus ran out of his ears.134
136
130_Good Friends, “North Korea Today,” No. 11 (Dec. 12, 2005).
131_NKHR2008000019 2008-09-16.
132_NKHR2011000018 2011-01-18.
133_NKHR2010000007 2010-03-16.
134_NKHR2010000067 2010-04-27.
– Defector XXX testified that in January 2005 a drunken guard struck an inmate for “sneering at something” in a tight and narrow detention room. When the inmates resist- ed, the guard reported the incident to the chief guard, XXX, and the chief guard then beat the inmate terribly in the presence of all the other inmates.135
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the security detention center (jail) in Onsung County in Janu- ary 2007, he was forced to sit in an upright position for two hour periods with ten minutes of standing in between.
This was repeated all day long. In May of 2007 a fellow inmate was being denied meals. This witness was beaten for offering some food to that inmate.136
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in a security agency detention center in Shinuiju in January 2008 he was struck with a fist simply because he bumped slightly with a guard as they passed each other. Afterwards he began to lose his hair.137
– A defector testified that while detained at the city security agency detention center in Hyesan City in March 2008, he saw a guard, XXX, ordering an inmate put both his hands on the door grid rail and then kicking them because the inmate changed his statement during interrogation.138 – Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the
city security agency detention center in Hyesan City, his entire group experienced hazing punishment. They were
137
135_NKHR2010000045 2010-09-07.
136_NKHR2011000020 2010-05-19.
137_NKHR2010000089 2010-06-08.
138_NKHR2011000017 2010-06-08.
ordered to stand at attention and struck with fists.139
Many defectors have testified that serious incidents of human rights violations have occurred inside the Onsung County 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.
– Defector XXX testified that a guard so severely beat his father at the provincial security agency detention center in Hyesan City that he lost many of his toes.140
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the city security agency detention center (jail) in Manpo City, Jagang Province, in July 2008, he was struck with fists and beaten with a club for having spoken Chinese. Afterwards, the guards would beat him every time they found an excuse.141
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in the security agency detention center in Onsung County in January 2010 he was beaten for having talked to someone in the bathroom.142
Some defectors testified that security agency detention cen- ters were psychologically painful, but there was less inhumane treatment compared to the safety agency detention centers. Defec- tor XXX testified, “The security agency detention center was just
138
139_NKHR2010000018 2010-10-05.
140_NKHR2009000033 2009-05-26.
141_NKHR2010000054 2010-06-22.
142_NKHR2010000031 2010-11-09.
psychologically painful, but at the people’s safety agency they beat you very hard. They would kick you and force you to clean up bathrooms if you didn’t say what they wanted. But at the security agency they would simply put you in a small room and not allow you to doze off, and tell you to kneel and write confessions, etc.”143
•The Reality of Malnutrition, Poor Medical Service, and Death
Human rights abuses, including deaths, are rampant inside correctional centers, because the agents have no concept of human rights. Defector XXX testified that after Kim Jong-il said in 2007 that the laws were too soft, the security agents at the correctional center he was serving in publicly screamed, “Die, you guys. I don’t care. I don’t care if ten of you die. I couldn’t care less if 20 of you were to die!”144In fact, it has been widely reported that human rights abuses, including deaths, have taken place inside the correc- tional centers.
– Defector XXX testified that he/she served in Gaechon Cor- rectional Center with his/her grandmother in the summer of 2006. He later heard that his grandmother had died from malnutrition at the dispensary.145
– Defector XXX testified that in May 2008 he spent 40 days recovering from a high fever at the dispensary known as the “Sick Unit” at the Jongori Correctional Center in May of 2008. While he was there he witnessed about 14 inmate deaths a week on average.146
139
143_NKHR2009000016 1009-03-19.
144_NKHR2009000059 2009-09-29.
145_NKHR2010000045 2010-09-07.
– Defector XXX testified that while he was detained in Jon- gori Correctional Center he heard from a nursing agent that between 2008 and March of 2009 about 300 inmates had died from inhumane treatment, disease, infirmity, and suicide.147
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 end up dying.
– Defector XXX testified that for daily meals they would each be given a ball of corn mixed with beans three times a day. The regulations called for 599 grams per day, but he thought the meals amounted to about 300 grams.148 – Defector XXX testified that in April, 2005 Kim XX died
from malnutrition and physical exhaustion due to the heavy workload during the farming season. Each meal consisted of only 150 grams of steamed grain along with some grass. Many inmates would try to pick edible grasses in the fields or catch frogs and consume them. This would then cause diarrhea, which in turn would cause dehydra- tion and death.149
– Defector XXX testified that the Jonggori Correctional Center has been housing an excessively large number of detainees since the end of 2006, resulting in a severe lack of food for the inmates. As a result, more and more inmates have died from starvation.150
140
146_NKHR2009000059 2009-09-29.
147_NKHR2010000067 2010-09-14.
148_NKHR2009000067 2009-11-12.
149_Testimony of defector XXX during an interview in Seoul on March 7, 2007.
150_Good Friends, “North Korea Today,” No. 61 (Feb. 28, 2007); Good Friends,
Labor training camps are said to provide meals, but many inmates die due to malnutrition and physical exhaustion from the heavy workload.
– Defector XXX testified that he personally saw a 25-year- old man, XXX, starve to death in 2005 at a labor-training camp in Pohang District.151
– Defector XXX testified that while he was serving in the Labor-training camp in Musan County, North Hamkyung Province, he heard that a fellow inmate died from malnu- trition.152
– Defector XXX testified that while he was serving in Hweryong Labor Training Camp he saw a 30-year-old man from Yuson getting released for physical infirmity.153
According to defector testimonies, numerous deaths have occurred as a result of a combination of beatings and starvation.
Defectors have also testified that some inmates die because they are not treated in time.
– Defector XXX testified that at a labor-training camp where he was detained in 2005 two children died from malnutri- tion and illness. Even though they were ill, the guards did not send them to the hospital but just abandoned them to die because they had been caught twice attempting to flee.
No one was held responsible for those deaths.154
– Defector XXX testified that a woman died at a training- camp in 2005 due to malnutrition, and they discarded her
141
“North Korea Today,” No. 63 (March 14, 2007).
151_Ibid.
152_NKHR2010000028 2010-11-16.
153_NKHR2008000010 2008-08-08.
154_NKHR2009000028 2009-04-28.
body in a goat sty in the camp.155
– Defector XXX testified that while he was serving in the Jeungsan labor training camp in Pyongsung city, South Pyong-an Province, in May of 2005, he saw an inmate having trouble passing urine. The inmate did not get any treatment and ultimately died in the camp.156
– Defector XXX testified that her sister’s husband XXX died inside a labor training camp in January 2008. She heard that he was beaten to death.157
North Korean citizens’ right to life is also jeopardized in the “collection points” just as in other detention facilities. The detainees suffer from malnutrition and poor sanitation facilities.
Some simply collapse and die due to physical exhaustion. People from the inner provinces like Pyongan, Hwanghae, and Kangwon have more difficulty trying to cross the border, and after being forcibly deported from China back to North Korea, they normally suffer a harder ordeal and a longer period of detention. Without doubt, the right to life of the detainees in these centers is being seriously breached.158
– Defector XXX testified that while he was at a collection point in December 2006, an inmate suffering from tuber- culosis was left untreated. As soon as he died they took him to the hospital so he could be pronounced dead at the hospital.159
– Defector XXX testified that while he was serving at the
142
155_NKHR2009000041 2009-06-23.
156_NKHR2010000102 2010-07-13.
157_NKHR2009000065 2009-11-10.
158_Good Friends, “North Korea Today,” No. 11 (Dec. 12, 2005).
159_NKHR2009000032 2009-05-19.