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List of Prisoners of Camp 15

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List of Prisoners of Camp 15 Cover design: Shin, Minyong Proofreading: Mary Soo Anderson . 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS FREE THE NORTH KOREAN GULAG is … 4 This is a list of 254 current and former detainees … 4 The North Korean Political Prisoner Camps Introduction 6 What does it look like? 7 Why are the innocent family members imprisoned? 8 What is life like for the people in the Kwan-Li-So? 8 The List of 254 Current and Former Detainees of the #15 YODUK Political Prisoner Camp Defecting from North Korea 11 Criticism or Complaints Against The Regime 37 Degrading the Authority of the Chosun Labor Party and Embezzlement of Party Funds 49 Plotting Anti-Government Action and Anti-Government Activity 65 Christianity, Espionage and Exposing National Secrets 77 Collective Punishment or Guilt by Association 95 Other Reasons… 109 3 FREE THE NORTH KOREAN GULAG is an organization founded in 2003 by the former detainees of Yoduk Kwanliso #15, one of the North Korean political prison camps. Our purpose is to close the political prison camps that exist throughout North Korea and promote North Korean human rights. We work to terminate the operation of the political prison camps, which are the essence of Kim, Jong-Il’s dictatorship. We also work to free the innocent prisoners still living in the camps. Even now in North Korea, there are at least five political prison camps in which forced labor, starvation, torture, rape, public executions and illness plague people until their deaths. It is our mission to spread the word about the existence of the camps and to end the pain and suffering of the detainees as soon as possible. This is a list of 254 current and former detainees ……… of the “YODUK Political prison camp: Revolutionizing District”. All of the people on this list were once in the political prison camp located in Yoduk County, North Korea; however, for many, their current whereabouts are unknown. These 181 men and 73 women are just a small fraction of the total people who were once in the camp. This list provides personal accounts of the prisoners before they were imprisoned and after they were released. 4 This list was compiled through direct testimonies of former detainees, Tae Jin KIM, Kwang Il JUNG, Eun Cheol KIM, Gum Nan LEE*(fictitious name), and Hyung Chul HAN*(fictitious name). It is the only list which provides evidence that includes the names, stories, and former jobs of the people who were once, and perhaps still are, suffering in the political prison camps. All of this evidence is based on what the former detainees directly saw and heard during their stay in the camps. Some of those included in this list have already died, some of them have been released, and some of them have been moved to the Complete Control District; thus, many of them will never know their names were written here. Nevertheless, by publishing these names and stories to the world, we hope that it will be known that somebody remembered them, and it will give strength and comfort to the people who still suffer in the political prison camps. It is our hope that those still suffering in the prison camps will soon be freed. We give thanks to the former detainees aforementioned, who provided their help in this list, despite the dangers involved in disclosing information about the camps. 5 The North Korean Political PPPrisonPrison CCCampCampamps:s:s:s: The KwanKwan----LiLiLiLi----SoSoSoSo Introduction It is estimated that five political prison camps (called “Kwan-Li-So” in North Korea) exist throughout the country, and that approximately 200,000-300,000 people in these camps have suffered from starvation, torture, extreme cold, disease and harsh labor. According to Chapter III of the Constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), political prisoners are “people who have committed anti-state crimes, as well as those who have participated in a conspiracy to overthrow the Republic, actions including: any subversive revolts; those who have attempted any terrorist acts upon state officials and patriotic citizens; and those who have instigated anti- 6 state criminal acts to overthrow, create disorder, or undermine the Republic.” Political prisoners in North Korea are classified as “anti-revolutionary elements”, “holders of risky ideas” or “hostile elements”, and are sent to the political prison camps called “Kwan-Li-So”. Since the Kwan-Li-So have been unknown to the general public in North Korea, judicial procedures are not provided. At first a suspect disappears, and then all members of three generations of the suspect’s family are forcibly taken in the middle of night to be moved to the camp and forced into labor, often until their deaths. The Chosun Labor Party The National Security Agency The Seventh Unit The 14th The 15th The 16th The 18th The 22th Kwan-Li-So Kwan-Li-So Kwan-Li-so Kwan-Li-So Kwan-Li-So Gaechon, Yodok, Hawsung, Bukchang, Hoeryung, South South South South North Pyongan Hamgyong Hamgyong Pyongan Hamgyong There are two basic purposes for the existence of the Kwan-Li-So. The first is to persecute and oppress any political enemies against the Kim, Il-Sung and Kim, Jong-Il regime. The second is to keep the public submissive and fearful by rooting out any individual who poses a potential threat to the regime. What does it look like? The Kwan-Li-So are usually surrounded at their outer perimeters by barbed-wire fences, punctuated with watchtowers patrolled by heavily armed guards. 1 In some areas there are walls 2 to 3 meters (7 to 10 feet) tall topped with electrical wire. 2 Along the fences are watchtowers measuring 7 to 8 meters in height, set at 1- 1 David Hawk, “Hidden Gulag” , (U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 2003), p.24 2 Id . p.34 7 kilometer intervals, and patrolled by 1,000 guards armed with automatic rifles, hand grenades, and dogs. 3 The encampments include self-contained, closed, village-like compounds for single persons (usually the alleged political prisoner) and other closed, fenced-in “villages” for the extended families of the political prisoners. 4 In general, the Kwan-Li-So are notorious for lifetime imprisonment. However, the 15th Kwan-Li-So located in Yoduk county, South Hamgyong Province, is divided into two sections: the Complete Control District and the Revolutionizing District. The Complete Control District detains those with life sentences, whereas the Revolutionizing District sometimes releases their prisoners. Most of the former prisoners mentioned in this document are those who were released from the Revolutionizing District in the Yoduk Kwan-Li-So. Why are the innocent family members imprisoned? Another notorious feature of the Kwan-Li-So is the principle of “collective punishment”, called Yeon-Jaw-Je in North Korea. Under this principle, the parents, siblings, children and sometimes grandchildren of the offending political prisoner are imprisoned in a three-generation practice. 5 According to the former prisoners, this practice complies with the following 1972 statement by Kim Il-Sung, “Factionalists or enemies of class, whoever they are, must have their seed eliminated through three generations.” 6 Therefore, it is estimated that more than half of the people imprisoned in the Kwan-Li-So are the innocent family members of the political enemies. What is life like for the people in the Kwan-Li-So? Daily life in the Kwan-Li-So consists of a combination of below-subsistence food rations and extremely hard labor. 7 Prisoners are provided only enough food—a bowl of Korean-style corn soup—to be kept perpetually on the verge of starvation, 3 Id . p.34 4 Id . p.24 5 Id. p.24 6 Id. p.24 7 Id. p. 25 8 and therefore, they have to eat plants, grasses, barks, rats, snakes, or even the food of the labor-camp farm animals. 8 Kim Jin, a former prisoner of the 15th Kwan-Li- So, testified that, to stay alive, he ate plants, rats, snakes, and frogs, 9 and that sometimes there were quarrels between the prisoners for wild animals. Under the principle of self-sufficiency in the Kwan-Li-So, some prisoners farm corn, cut trees into firewood and make furniture, while others construct buildings. These supplies and buildings are mainly for the guards and their families living next to the Kwan-Li-So. According to Ah Hyuk, a former prisoner of the 15th Kwan-Li- So, his labor assignment involved construction work at a water-driven electric- power plant at the camp. He describes his construction project as “murderous”, as the prisoners had to break ice and wade waist-deep into a frozen stream to gather stones and lay boards to re-channel the water. As a result, many lost their fingers and toes due to frostbite, or died from exposure. 10 The 15th Kwan-Li-So located in Yoduk county is also divided into the singles area and the family area. 11 Mr. Lee Young-Kuk, a former prisoner of the 15th Kwan-Li- So, testified that during his imprisonment, the area held about 1,000 prisoners, of which only 50 were women. While the women’s houses were heated, the men’s were not, thus male prisoners suffered from frostbitten ears and swollen legs during the winter season. 12 In addition, sexual contact between men and women was not allowed, as it was thought this could result in another generation of counter-revolutionaries. 13 8 Id. p. 25 9 Id. p. 32 10 Id. p. 31 11 Id . p. 35 12 Id . p. 35 13 Id . p. 35 9 10 Defecting From North Korea 11 Name KANG, Misook Gender Female Age at Arrest 35 Hometown Bongsan -Gun, Hwanghaebuk -Do Occupation in NK Unemployed Date of Imprisonment November 1999 Status Unknown Reason for Arrested by the Chinese police in Yanji, China; was forcibly Imprisonment sent to North Korea and imprisoned after confessing she had contact with a South Korean.
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