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The Parallel Gulag North Korea’S “An-Jeon-Bu” Prison Camps

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The Parallel Gulag North Korea’S “An-Jeon-Bu” Prison Camps THE PARALLEL GULAG NORth Korea’s “AN-JEON-BU” PrisoN CAMPS DAVID HAWK With AMANDA MORTWEDT OH H R N K THE PARALLEL GULAG NORth Korea’s “AN-JEON-BU” PrisoN CAMPS H R N K DAVID HAWK With AMANDA MORTWEDT OH *The symbol on the cover is the uniform insignia of the “An-jeon-bu,” translated as the Ministry of People’s Security, North Korea’s police force that administers the kyo-hwa-so prison system through its Prisons Bureau. Copyright © 2017 Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior permission of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in criti- cal reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 435 Washington, DC 20036 P: (202) 499-7970 www.hrnk.org ISBN: 978-0-9995358-0-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017957916 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gordon Flake, Co-Chair Jack David Katrina Lantos Swett, Co-Chair Paula Dobriansky John Despres, Co-Vice-Chair Nicholas Eberstadt Suzanne Scholte, Co-Vice-Chair Carl Gershman Helen-Louise Hunter, Secretary Stephen Kahng Kevin McCann, Treasurer David Kim Roberta Cohen, Co-Chair Emeritus Robert King Andrew Natsios, Co-Chair Emeritus Debra Liang-Fenton Morton Abramowitz Winston Lord Jerome Cohen David Maxwell Lisa Colacurcio Marcus Noland Rabbi Abraham Cooper Jacqueline Pak Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) ............................................................................................ II About the Authors ................................................................................................................................................................................... III Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................................................IV Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................................................................................IV Map of Known Kyo-hwa-so Prisons and Prison Camps ................................................................................................................ V List of Satellite Imagery ..........................................................................................................................................................................VI Foreword: The Honorable Michael Kirby, Chair, UN Commission of Inquiry .....................................................................VII Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................................1 Additional Prisoner Data ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 New Satellite Imagery .............................................................................................................................................................. 2 The 2012 North Korean Criminal Code .............................................................................................................................. 4 Comparative Phenomena of Repression: Political Purges vs. Population Control ............................................ 5 The Kyo-hwa-so Prison Camp System and Related Hard Labor Facilities Administered by the Ministry of People’s Security ................................................................................................................................................................. 9 The Misnomer of “Re-education Through Labor” .......................................................................................................... 9 Regime’s Claims vs. Prisoner Testimony ..........................................................................................................................10 Related Hard Labor Facilities ...............................................................................................................................................12 The Brutal Feeder System to Kyo-hwa-so Imprisonment ..........................................................................................13 Wrongful Imprisonment .......................................................................................................................................................13 The United Nations’ Legal Analysis: Crimes Against Humanity in the Kyo-hwa-so .........................................................15 Prisoner Testimony and the United Nations’ Legal Analysis ....................................................................................15 Violations of Fundamental Rules of International Law ..............................................................................................16 Extermination and Murder ..................................................................................................................................................16 Torture, Rape, and Other Grave Sexual Violence ..........................................................................................................17 Enforcing the “One-and-Only Ideology” System: A Glance at the 2012 North Korean Criminal Code and the Blatant Contradictions with the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights as well as Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ..............................................................................................................................................18 “Illegal” Border Crossing vs. the Freedom to Leave ......................................................................................................19 “Impairing Socialist Culture” vs. Freedoms of Opinion and Expression ................................................................19 “Violating the Order of Socialist Collective Life” vs. Freedoms of Thought and Religion ................................20 Violating Freedoms of Expression and Assembly ........................................................................................................ 21 “Crimes That Are Not Really Crimes” .................................................................................................................................. 21 Provincial Chart of Kyo-hwa-so Prison Camps...............................................................................................................................23 Working Survey of Known Kyo-hwa-so Prison Camps ...............................................................................................................24 Kyo-hwa-so Identified by Number .....................................................................................................................................26 Kyo-hwa-so Identified by Name ..........................................................................................................................................44 Kyo-hwa-so Believed to be Closed .....................................................................................................................................50 Other Possible Prison Facilities ...........................................................................................................................................54 The Parallel Gulag: Next Steps..............................................................................................................................................................55 Appendix I: Kwan-li-so Political Prison Camps Not Included in The Parallel Gulag ..........................................................56 Appendix II: The 2012 North Korean Criminal Code ...................................................................................................................70 ABOUT THE COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA (HRNK) HRNK is the leading U.S.-based bipartisan, non-governmental organization in the field of North Korean human rights research and advocacy, tasked to focus international attention on human rights abuses in that country. It is HRNK’s mission to persistently remind policymakers, opinion leaders, and the general public that more than 20 million North Koreans need our attention. Since its establishment in October 2001, HRNK has played an important intellectual leadership role in North Korean human rights issues by publishing thirty-three major reports (available at http://www.hrnk.org/ publications/hrnk-publications.php). Recent reports have addressed issues including political prison camps, the dominant role that Pyongyang plays in North Korea’s political system, North Korea’s state sponsorship of terrorism, the role of illicit activities in the North Korean economy, the structure of the internal security apparatus, the songbun social classification system, and the abduction of foreign citizens. HRNK was the first organization to propose that the human rights situation in North Korea be addressed by the UN Security Council. HRNK was directly, actively, and effectively involved in all stages of the process supporting
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