Hoeryong concentration camp

Hoeryong concentration camp (or Haengyong concentration camp) was a prison camp in North Korea that was reported to have been closed in 2012.[1] The official name was Kwalliso (penal labour colony) No. 22. The camp was a maximum security area, completely isolated from the outside world.[2]:105–107

Hoeryong concentration camp
Chosŏn'gŭl
회령 제22호 관리소
Hancha
Revised RomanizationHoeryeong Je Isipi-ho Gwalliso
McCune–ReischauerHoeryŏng Che Isibi-ho Kwalliso
Chosŏn'gŭl
회령 정치범 수용소
Hancha
Revised RomanizationHoeryeong Jeongchibeum Suyongso
McCune–ReischauerHoeryŏng Chŏngch'ibŏm Suyongso
Part of a series on
Human rights in North Korea
Human rights abuses
Political prisons (Kwanliso)
Re-education camps (Kyohwaso)
Abductions and POWs
International reactions

In 2012, satellite image analysis[3] and reports[4] indicated major changes including its reported closure.[1]

Location
Pyongyang
Hoeryong
Location of Camp 22 in North Korea

Camp 22 was located in Hoeryong county, North Hamgyong province, in northeast North Korea, near the border with China. It was situated in a large valley with many side valleys, surrounded by 400–700 m (1,300–2,300 ft) high mountains. The southwest gate of the camp was located around 7 km (4.3 mi) northeast of downtown Hoeryong, while the main gate was located around 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Kaishantun in China's Jilin province. The western boundary of the camp runs parallel to, and at a distance of 5–8 km (3.1–5.0 mi) from, the Tumen River, which forms the border with China.[5] The camp was not included in maps until recently[6] and the North Korean government has always denied its existence.[7][8]

History

The camp was founded around 1965 in Haengyong-ri and expanded into the areas of Chungbong-ri and Sawul-ri in the 1980s and 1990s.[2]:105–107 The number of prisoners increased sharply in the 1990s, when three other prison camps in North Hamgyong province were closed and the prisoners were transferred to Camp 22. Kwan-li-so No. 11 (Kyongsong) was closed in 1989, Kwan-li-so No. 12 (Onsong) was closed in 1992 and Kwan-li-so No. 13 (Changpyong) in 1992.[2]:72–75

Description

Camp 22 was around 225 km2 (87 sq mi) in area.[9] It was surrounded by an inner 3300 volt electric fence and an outer barbed wire fence, with traps and hidden nails between the two fences.[2]:216–224 The camp was controlled by roughly 1,000 guards and 500–600 administrative agents.[10] The guards were equipped with automatic rifles, hand grenades and trained dogs.[11]

In the 1990s there were an estimated 50,000 prisoners in the camp.[12] Prisoners were mostly people who criticized the government,[2]:131–132 people deemed politically unreliable (such as South Korean prisoners of war, Christians, returnees from Japan)[13] or purged senior party members.[2]:134–136 Based on the guilt-by-association principle (Korean: 연좌제, yeonjwaje) they are often imprisoned together with the whole family including children and the elderly, and including any children born in the camp.[10] All prisoners were detained until they died; they were never released.[2]:187–188

The camp was divided into several prison labour colonies:[2]:333–336

  • Haengyong-ri was the camp headquarters with administration offices, a food factory, a garment factory, detention center, guards' quarters and prisoner family quarters.[2]:105–107[14]
  • Chungbong-ri was a mining section with a coal mine, loading depot, railway station, guards' quarters and single prisoners' quarters.[15]
  • Naksaeng-ri, Sawul-ri, Kulsan-ri and Namsok-ri were farming sections with prisoner family quarters.

There was an execution site in Sugol Valley, at the edge of the camp.[10][16]

Conditions in the camp

Former guard Ahn Myong-chol describes the conditions in the camp as harsh and life-threatening.[17] He recalls the shock he felt upon his first arrival at the camp, where he likened the prisoners to walking skeletons, dwarfs, and cripples in rags.[10][18] Ahn estimates that about 30% of the prisoners had deformities, such as torn off ears, smashed eyes, crooked noses, and faces covered with cuts and scars resulting from beatings and other mistreatment. Around 2,000 prisoners, he says, had missing limbs, but even prisoners who needed crutches to walk were still forced to work.[19]

Prisoners received 180 g (6.3 oz) of corn per meal (two times a day), with almost no vegetables and no meat.[2]:362 The only meat in their diets was from rats, snakes, frogs or even insects that they caught.[10][20] Ahn estimated that 1,500–2,000 people died of malnutrition there every year, mostly children.[12] Despite these deaths, the inmate population remained constant, suggesting that similar amounts of new inmates arrived each year.[21]

Children received only very basic education.[2]:450–451 From the age of 6 onward they were work assigned, such as picking vegetables, peeling corn or drying rice, but received very little food — only 360 g (13 oz) in all per day. Consequently many children died before the age of ten years.[2]:434–444 Elderly prisoners had the same work requirements as other adults.[2]:423 Seriously ill prisoners were quarantined, abandoned, and left to die.[22]

Single prisoners lived in bunkhouses with 100 people in one room. As a reward for good work, families were often allowed to live together in a single room inside of a small house, without running water.[2]:352 Houses were in poor condition; walls were made from mud and typically had many cracks.[23] All prisoners were allowed access only to dirty and crowded communal toilets.[24]

Prisoners had to do hard physical labor in agriculture, mining and inside factories from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. in winter),[11] followed by ideological re-education and self-criticism sessions.[2]:239 New Year’s Day was the only holiday for prisoners.[2]:416 The mines were not equipped with safety measures and, according to Ahn, prisoners were consequently killed almost every day. Prisoners could use only primitive tools such as shovels and picks, and were forced to work to exhaustion.[2]:333–336 If a fire occurred or a tunnel collapsed, prisoners were simply abandoned inside and left to die.[25] Kwon Hyuk, a former security officer in Camp 22, reported that corpses were loaded into cargo coaches together with the coal, to be burnt in a melting furnace.[2]:187–188 The coal was delivered to the Chongjin power plant as well as to Chongjin and Kimchaek steel mills,[26] while the food was delivered to the State Security Agency or sold in Pyongyang and other parts of the country.[2]:333–336

Human rights violations

Ahn explained how the camp guards are taught that prisoners are factionalists and class enemies that have to be destroyed like weeds down to their roots.[10] They are instructed to regard the prisoners as slaves[19] and not treat them as human beings.[2]:243–244 Based on this the guards may at any time kill any prisoner who does not obey their orders.[27][28] Kwon reported that as a security officer he could decide whether or not to kill a prisoner if he or she violated a rule.[2]:258, 273 He admitted that once he ordered the execution of 31 people from five families in a collective punishment,[29] because one member of a family tried to escape.[2]:238[30]

In the 1980s, public executions took place approximately once a week according to Kwon.[2]:468 However Ahn reported that in the 1990s they were replaced by secret executions, as the security guards feared riots from the assembled crowd.[31] Kwon was required to visit the secret execution site[2]:480 a number of times; there, he saw disfigured and crushed bodies.[32][33]

In case of serious violations of camp rules, the prisoners are subjected to a process of investigation, which produced human rights violations, such as reduced meals, torture, beating and sexual harassment.[2]:258 In addition, there is a detention center;[10] many prisoners die in detention[34] and even more leave the detention building crippled.[35]

Ahn and Kwon reported about the following torture methods used in Haengyong-ri:[19][30]

  • Water torture: The prisoner must stand on his or her toes in a tank filled with water to his nose for 24 hours.[2]:275
  • Hanging torture: The prisoner is stripped and hung upside down from the ceiling to be violently beaten.[2]:274
  • Box-room-torture: The prisoner is detained in a very small solitary cell, in which there is barely enough room to sit, but not stand or lie, for three days or a week.[2]:275
  • Kneeling-torture: The prisoner must kneel down with a wooden bar inserted near his or her knee hollows to stop blood circulation. After a week, the prisoner cannot walk and may likely die some months later.[19]
  • Pigeon torture: The prisoner is tied to the wall with both hands at a height of 60 cm (2.0 ft) and must crouch for many hours.[2]:273

Prisoners are beaten every day,[36][37] if, for example, they do not bow quickly or deeply enough before the guards,[38] if they do not work hard enough,[39] or do not obey quickly enough.[2]:264–265 It is a frequent practice for guards to use prisoners as martial arts targets.[40] Rape and sexual violence are very common in the camp,[2]:489 as female prisoners know they may be easily killed if they resist the demands of the security officers.[41]

Ahn reported about hundreds of prisoners each year being taken away for several “major construction projects”,[42] such as secret tunnels, military bases or nuclear facilities in remote areas.[19] None of these prisoners ever returned to the camp.[2]:406 Ahn is convinced that they were secretly killed after finishing the construction work to keep the secrecy of these projects.[2]:123–124

Human experimentation
Main article: Human experimentation in North Korea

Kwon reported about human experimentation carried out in Haengyong-ri.[2]:507 He described a sealed glass chamber, 3.5 m (11 ft) wide, 3 m (9.8 ft) long and 2.2 m (7.2 ft) high,[43] where he witnessed a family with two children[30] dying from being test subjects for an asphyxiant gas.[44] Ahn explained how inexperienced medical officers of Chungbong-ri hospital practiced their surgery techniques on prisoners. He heard numerous accounts of unnecessary operations and medical flaws, killing or permanently crippling prisoners.[45]

Reports on mass starvation and closure

Satellite images from late 2012 showed the detention centre and some of the guard towers being razed, but all other structures appeared operational.[3] It was reported that 27,000 prisoners died of starvation within a short time and the surviving 3,000 prisoners were relocated to Hwasong concentration camp between March and June 2012.[4] It was further reported that the camp was shut down in June, security guards removed traces of detention facilities until August[46] and then miners from Kungsim mine[4] and farmers from Saebyol and Undok were moved into the area.[47] According to another report the authorities decided to close the camp to cover its tracks after a warden defected.[1]

Former guards/prisoners (witnesses)
  • Ahn Myong-chol (1990 – 1994 in Camp 22) was a prison guard and driver in the camp. In 1987 he was a prison guard in Kwan-li-so No. 11 (Kyongsong) and 1987 – 1990 in Kwan-li-so No. 13 (Changpyong).[17][36]
  • Kwon Hyok (1987 – 1990 in Camp 22) was a security officer in the camp. He defected six years later, when he worked as a military attaché in Beijing.[30]
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See also

References
  1. "Camp 22 Disbanded on Defection Fear". Daily NK. September 28, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  2. "Political Prison Camps in North Korea Today" (PDF). Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. July 15, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013.
  3. "North Korea's Camp No. 22 - update" (PDF). The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. December 11, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  4. "From Prison Camp to Coal Hub". Radio Free Asia. November 6, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  5. "Kwan-li-so No.22 Haengyŏng (Hoeryŏng)". Wikimapia. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
  6. "북한지리: 회령시(會寧市) HWERYONGSI". Joongang Ilbo, 1997. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
  7. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea", Monthly Chosun Ilbo, Confused by a Fantasy, March 1995, archived from the original on October 22, 2013, retrieved June 20, 2012
  8. "Third-rate smear campaign". Korean Central News Agency, October 27, 1997. Archived from the original on January 29, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  9. Harden, Blaine (July 20, 2009). "North Koreas Hard Labor Camps with interactive map". Washington Post, July 20, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  10. "The Hidden Gulag – Exposing Crimes against Humanity in North Korea's Vast Prison System (p. 77 - 78)" (PDF). The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  11. Kang, Chol-hwan (5 December 2002). "Hoeryong Concentration Camp Holds 50,000 Inmates". Chosun Ilbo. Archived from the original on 22 February 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  12. "North Korea: Political Prison Camps". Amnesty International. May 4, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
  13. "North Korea's Concentration Camps for Political Prisoners". Keys. Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights. Winter 2001. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  14. "The Hidden Gulag (2003 Edition) – Satellite Imagery" (PDF). The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. pp. 112–117. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  15. "The Hidden Gulag – Satellite Imagery (p. 222)" (PDF). The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  16. "Secret Execution (I)". Daily NK, December 16, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  17. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea". Monthly Chosun Ilbo. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  18. "Typical Appearance of Prisoners". Daily NK, November 16, 2005. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  19. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea", Monthly Chosun Ilbo, 2,000 Inmates Missing Arms or Legs, March 1995, archived from the original on October 22, 2013, retrieved June 20, 2012
  20. "Prisoners Catch Rats For Survival". Daily NK, November 25, 2005. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  21. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea", Monthly Chosun Ilbo, Death Rules Each Day, March 1995, archived from the original on October 22, 2013, retrieved June 20, 2012
  22. "Patients Quarantined, Abandoned and Left to Die". Daily NK, November 29, 2005. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  23. "Prisoners' Sheds in the Detention Settlement". Daily NK, November 15, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  24. "Communal Toilet For All Prisoners". Daily NK, November 28, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  25. "Prisoners Abandoned in a Collapsing Mine". Daily NK, December 30, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  26. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea", Monthly Chosun Ilbo, Enormous Slave Factories, March 1995, archived from the original on October 22, 2013, retrieved June 20, 2012
  27. "You May beat or shoot prisoners to death anywhere, any time and for any reason!". Daily NK, November 14, 2005. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  28. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea", Monthly Chosun Ilbo, Inmates Are Human, Too, March 1995, archived from the original on October 22, 2013, retrieved June 20, 2012
  29. Frenkiel, Olenka (30 January 2004). "Within prison walls". BBC. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  30. Frenkiel, Olenka (1 February 2004). "'I saw an entire family being killed. They were put in the gas chamber where they all suffocated. The last to die was the youngest son'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  31. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea", Monthly Chosun Ilbo, The MSS Executes Prisoners on Whim, March 1995, archived from the original on October 22, 2013, retrieved June 20, 2012
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  33. "A Female Prisoner's Corpse". Daily NK, December 23, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  34. "North Korea's Concentration Camps for Political Prisoners", Keys, Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights, Detention houses within the concentration camps, Spring 2001, archived from the original on November 10, 2013, retrieved June 26, 2012
  35. Windrem, Robert (15 January 2003). "Death, terror in N. Korea gulag". NBC News. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  36. "Former guard: Ahn Myong Chol; North Korean prison guard remembers atrocities". NBC News. 15 January 2003. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  37. "Access to Evil", BBC Two, North Korean Killing Fields (5), February 1, 2004, retrieved October 18, 2013
  38. "Prisoners must salute security officers". Daily NK, November 17, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  39. "Hard Labor at Life Imprisonment Settlements". Daily NK, November 18, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  40. "Political Prisoners Used as Martial Arts Targets". Daily NK, December 5, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  41. "North Korea: A case to answer – a call to act" (PDF), Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 8.G Crimes Against Humanity: Rape and sexual violence (p. 51), 2007, retrieved June 26, 2012
  42. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea", Monthly Chosun Ilbo, “Crows" Take Away the Inmates, March 1995, archived from the original on October 22, 2013, retrieved June 20, 2012
  43. "Access to Evil", BBC Two, North Korean Killing Fields (6), February 1, 2004, retrieved October 18, 2013
  44. Barnett, Antony (1 February 2004). "Revealed: the gas chamber horror of North Korea's gulag". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  45. "The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea", Monthly Chosun Ilbo, Sadistic Experiments on Living Human Beings, March 1995, archived from the original on October 22, 2013, retrieved June 20, 2012
  46. "Move to Monitor Prison Camps". Radio Free Asia. October 24, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  47. "New Farmers of Camp No.22 Revealed". Daily NK. October 25, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013.

Further reading
  • 안명철, 완전통제구역-북한 정치범수용소 경비대원의 수기, 시대정신 (서울, 2007-09-20), 287쪽, ISBN 8990959284 ISBN 978-8990959287 (Ahn Myong-chol, “Maximum Security Camp”, Zeitgeist, Seoul 2007, 287 p.)
  • 안명철, 그들은 울고있다, 천지미디어(서울, 1995-08-01), 354쪽, ISBN 8986144034 ISBN 978-8986144031 (Ahn Myong-chol, “They are weeping”, Chonji Media, Seoul 1995, 354 p.)

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