{{Short description|Political prison camp in North Korea}} {{CS1 config|mode=cs1}} {{Infobox Korean name |context=north |hangul=회령 제22호 관리소 |hanja={{linktext|會|寧|第|二|十|二|號|管|理|所|}} |rr=Hoeryeong Je Isipi-ho Gwalliso |mr=Hoeryŏng Che Isibi-ho Kwalliso |othername1= |hangul1=회령 정치범 수용소 |hanja1={{linktext|會|寧|政|治|犯|收|容|所|}} |rr1=Hoeryeong Jeongchibeum Suyongso |mr1=Hoeryŏng Chŏngch'ibŏm Suyongso }} {{Human Rights in North Korea|expanded=all}} '''Hoeryong concentration camp''' ('''Haengyong concentration camp''' or '''Camp 22''') was a concentration and death camp in North Korea that was reported to have been closed in 2012.<ref name="dailynk0912" /> The official name was '''Kwalliso''' (penal labour colony) '''No. 22'''. The camp was a maximum security area, completely isolated from the outside world.<ref name="nkdb">{{cite web | title= Political Prison Camps in North Korea Today | website= Database Center for North Korean Human Rights |date=July 15, 2011| url= http://nkdb.org/bbs1/data/publication/Political_Prison_Camp_in_North_Korea_Today.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019141624/http://nkdb.org/bbs1/data/publication/Political_Prison_Camp_in_North_Korea_Today.pdf |archive-date=October 19, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|105–107}}
In 2012, satellite image analysis<ref name="hrnk1212">{{cite web | title= North Korea's Camp No. 22 - update | work= The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea | date= December 11, 2012 | url= https://hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/publications/eng/HRNK-CAMP-22-REPORT-UPDATE-DECEMBER-11-2012.pdf | access-date= October 20, 2024 | archive-date= May 23, 2023 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230523115900/https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK%20CAMP%2022%20REPORT%20UPDATE%20DECEMBER%2011-2012.pdf | url-status= dead }}</ref> and reports<ref name="rfa1112">{{cite web | title= From Prison Camp to Coal Hub | work=Radio Free Asia |date=November 6, 2012| url= http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/camp-11062012112837.html | access-date=January 14, 2013}}</ref> indicated major changes including its reported closure.<ref name="dailynk0912">{{cite web | title= Camp 22 Disbanded on Defection Fear | work=Daily NK |date=September 28, 2012| url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=9865 | access-date=January 14, 2013}}</ref>
==Location== {{location map+|North Korea|caption = Location of Camp 22 in North Korea|width=|float=left|places= {{location map~|North Korea|label=Pyongyang|position=right|lat=39.063457|long=125.789200|region=KP-01|mark=Blue pog.svg}} {{location map~|North Korea|label=Hoeryong| position=left|lat=42.537967|long=129.935517|region=KP-09}}}} 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 {{convert|400|–|700|m|ft|abbr=on}} high mountains. The southwest gate of the camp was located around {{convert|7|km|mi|abbr=on}} northeast of downtown Hoeryong, while the main gate was located around {{convert|15|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of Kaishantun in China's Jilin province. The western boundary of the camp runs parallel to, and at a distance of {{convert|5|–|8|km|mi|abbr=on}} from, the Tumen River, which forms the border with China.<ref>{{cite web| title= Kwan-li-so No.22 Haengyŏng (Hoeryŏng)| work=Wikimapia | url= http://wikimapia.org/#lat=42.5456071&lon=129.881621&z=11&l=5&m=b&show=/4067405/Kwan-li-so-No-22-Haengy%C5%8Fng | access-date=June 18, 2012}}</ref> The camp was not included in maps until recently<ref>{{cite web | title= 북한지리: 회령시(會寧市) HWERYONGSI | work=JoongAng Ilbo, 1997 | url= http://nk.joins.com/map/view.asp?idx=i187.htm | access-date=June 18, 2012}}</ref> and the North Korean government has always denied its existence.<ref>{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= Confused by a Fantasy | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title= Third-rate smear campaign| work=Korean Central News Agency, October 27, 1997| url= http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/1997/9710/news10/27.htm| access-date= June 26, 2012| url-status=dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100112061124/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/1997/9710/news10/27.htm| archive-date= January 12, 2010}}</ref>
==History== The camp was founded around 1965 by Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il in Haengyong-ri and expanded into the areas of Chungbong-ri and Sawul-ri in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|72–75}}
==Description== Camp 22 was around {{convert|225|km2|mi2|abbr=on}} in area.<ref>{{cite news| title= North Koreas Hard Labor Camps with interactive map | work=Washington Post, July 20, 2009| url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/19/AR2009071902178.html | access-date=June 20, 2012 | first=Blaine | last=Harden | date=July 20, 2009}}</ref> 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.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|216–224}} The camp was controlled by roughly 1,000 guards and 500–600 administrative agents.<ref name = "hrnk">{{cite web| title= The Hidden Gulag – Exposing Crimes against Humanity in North Korea's Vast Prison System (p. 77 - 78)| work= The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea| url= http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf| access-date= June 20, 2012| archive-date= December 14, 2019| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191214040217/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf| url-status= dead}}</ref> The guards were equipped with automatic rifles, machine guns, hand grenades, clubs, whips, and trained dogs.<ref name="Chosun">{{cite news|title=Hoeryong Concentration Camp Holds 50,000 Inmates |last=Kang |first=Chol-hwan |newspaper=Chosun Ilbo |date=5 December 2002 |url=http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200212/200212050034.html |access-date=26 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222163513/http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200212/200212050034.html |archive-date=22 February 2009 }}</ref>
In the 1990s, there were an estimated 50,000 prisoners in the camp.<ref name="ai">{{cite web | title= North Korea: Political Prison Camps| work=Amnesty International |date=May 4, 2011| url= https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa24/001/2011/en/ | access-date=November 24, 2011}}</ref> Prisoners were mostly people who criticized the government,<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|131–132}} people deemed politically unreliable (such as South Korean prisoners of war, Christians, returnees from Japan)<ref name="Keys2001winter">{{cite web | url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/keys/2001/3/06.php | title=North Korea's Concentration Camps for Political Prisoners | publisher=Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights | work=Keys | date=Winter 2001 | access-date=June 26, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706044616/http://www.dailynk.com/english/keys/2001/3/06.php | archive-date=July 6, 2011 }}</ref> or purged senior party members.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|134–136}} Based on the guilt-by-association principle ({{Korean|hangul=연좌제|rr=yeonjwaje|labels=no}}) they are often imprisoned together with the whole family including children and the elderly, and including any children born in the camp.<ref name = "hrnk"/> All prisoners were detained until they died; they were never released.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|187–188}}
The camp was divided into several prison labour colonies:<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|105–107}}<ref>{{cite web| title= The Hidden Gulag (2003 Edition) – Satellite Imagery| pages= 112–117| work= The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea| url= http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/The_Hidden_Gulag.pdf| access-date= September 14, 2012| archive-date= March 14, 2013| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130314041055/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/The_Hidden_Gulag.pdf| url-status= dead}}</ref> * '''Chungbong-ri''' was a mining section with a coal mine, loading depot, railway station, hospital, guards' quarters, and single prisoners' quarters.<ref>{{cite web| title= The Hidden Gulag – Satellite Imagery (p. 222)| work= The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea| url= http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf| access-date= June 20, 2012| archive-date= December 14, 2019| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191214040217/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf| url-status= dead}}</ref> * '''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.<ref name = "hrnk"/><ref>{{cite web | title= Secret Execution (I) | work=Daily NK, December 16, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=435| access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref>
==Conditions in the camp== Former guard Ahn Myong-chol describes the conditions in the camp as harsh and life-threatening.<ref name="mcho">{{cite web | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | work=Monthly Chosun | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref> 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.<ref name = "hrnk"/><ref>{{cite web | title= Typical Appearance of Prisoners | work=Daily NK, November 16, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=375| access-date=June 26, 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref name="mcho2000">{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= 2,000 Inmates Missing Arms or Legs | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref>
Prisoners received {{convert|180|g|oz|abbr=on}} of corn per meal (two times a day), with almost no vegetables and no meat.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|362}} The only meat in their diets was from rats, snakes, frogs, or even insects that they caught.<ref name = "hrnk"/><ref>{{cite web | title= Prisoners Catch Rats For Survival| work=Daily NK, November 25, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=395| access-date=June 26, 2012}}</ref> Ahn estimated that 1,500–2,000 people died of malnutrition there every year, mostly children.<ref name="ai"/> Despite these deaths, the inmate population remained constant, suggesting that similar numbers of new inmates arrived each year.<ref>{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= Death Rules Each Day | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref>
Children received only very basic education.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|450–451}} From the age of 6 onward they were assigned work, such as picking vegetables, peeling corn, or drying rice, but received very little food — only {{convert|360|g|oz|abbr=on}} in all per day. Consequently, many children died before the age of ten years.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|434–444}} Elderly prisoners had the same work requirements as other adults.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|423}} Seriously ill prisoners were quarantined, abandoned, and left to die.<ref>{{cite web | title= Patients Quarantined, Abandoned and Left to Die| work=Daily NK, November 29, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=402| access-date=June 26, 2012}}</ref>
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 a small house, without running water.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|352}} Houses were in poor condition; walls were made from mud and typically had many cracks.<ref>{{cite web | title=Prisoners' Sheds in the Detention Settlement | work=Daily NK, November 15, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=372| access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> All prisoners were allowed access only to dirty and crowded communal toilets.<ref>{{cite web | title=Communal Toilet For All Prisoners | work=Daily NK, November 28, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=400| access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref>
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),<ref name="Chosun"/> followed by ideological re-education and self-criticism sessions.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|239}} New Year's Day was the only holiday for prisoners.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|333–336}} If a fire occurred or a tunnel collapsed, prisoners were simply abandoned inside and left to die.<ref>{{cite web | title= Prisoners Abandoned in a Collapsing Mine | work=Daily NK, December 30, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=465| access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|187–188}} The coal was delivered to the Chongjin power plant as well as to Chongjin and Kimchaek steel mills,<ref>{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= Enormous Slave Factories | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref> while the food was delivered to the State Security Agency or sold in Pyongyang and other parts of the country.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|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.<ref name = "hrnk"/> They are instructed to regard the prisoners as slaves<ref name="mcho2000"/> and not treat them as human beings.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|243–244}} Based on this, the guards may at any time kill any prisoner who does not obey their orders.<ref>{{cite web | title= You May beat or shoot prisoners to death anywhere, any time and for any reason!| work=Daily NK, November 14, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=370| access-date=June 26, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= Inmates Are Human, Too | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref> Kwon reported that as a security officer he could decide whether or not to kill a prisoner if they violated a rule.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|258, 273}} He admitted that once he ordered the execution of 31 people from five families in a collective punishment,<ref name = "bbc">{{cite news |title=Within prison walls |last=Frenkiel |first=Olenka |newspaper=BBC |date=30 January 2004 |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/3440771.stm |access-date=30 September 2010}}</ref> because one member of a family tried to escape.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|238}}<ref name = "telegraph">{{cite news |title='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' |last=Frenkiel |first=Olenka |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=1 February 2004 |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3326738/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.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120513133927/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3326738/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.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 13 May 2012 |access-date=20 June 2012}}</ref>
In the 1980s, public executions took place approximately once a week according to Kwon.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|468}} Ahn reported that in the 1990s they were replaced by secret executions, as the security guards feared riots from the assembled crowd.<ref>{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= The MSS Executes Prisoners on Whim | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref> Kwon was required to visit the secret execution site<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|480}} a number of times; there, he saw disfigured and crushed bodies.<ref>{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= The Executed Are Left for Wild Animals to Feed On | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title= A Female Prisoner's Corpse | work=Daily NK, December 23, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=454 | access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref>
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.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|258}} In addition, there is a detention center;<ref name = "hrnk"/> many prisoners die in detention<ref name="Keys2001spring">{{Citation | at=Detention houses within the concentration camps | url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/keys/2001/4/07.php | title=North Korea's Concentration Camps for Political Prisoners | date=Spring 2001 | publisher=Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights | access-date=June 26, 2012 | work=Keys | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110034254/http://www.dailynk.com/english/keys/2001/4/07.php | archive-date=November 10, 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and even more leave the detention building crippled.<ref name = "nbc">{{cite news |title=Death, terror in N. Korea gulag |last=Windrem |first=Robert |newspaper=NBC News |date=15 January 2003 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3071466 |access-date=26 June 2012}}</ref>
Ahn and Kwon reported about the following torture methods used in Haengyong-ri:<ref name="mcho2000"/><ref name = "telegraph"/> * '''Water torture''': The prisoner must stand on his or her toes in a tank filled with water to his or her nose for 24 hours.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|275}} * '''Hanging torture''': The prisoner is stripped and hung upside down from the ceiling to be violently beaten.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|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.<ref name="mcho2000"/> * '''Pigeon torture''': The prisoner is tied to the wall with both hands at a height of {{convert|60|cm|ft|abbr=on}} and must crouch for many hours.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|273}} Prisoners are beaten every day,<ref name="nbc-fg">{{cite news |title=Former guard: Ahn Myong Chol; North Korean prison guard remembers atrocities |newspaper=NBC News |date=15 January 2003 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3071468 |access-date=10 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{citation | title= Access to Evil | at=North Korean Killing Fields (5)| work= BBC Two |date=February 1, 2004| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEtSi_heSBc&list=PLECFCF4FF13DBC1F8 | access-date=October 18, 2013}}</ref> if, for example, they do not bow quickly or deeply enough before the guards,<ref>{{cite web | title= Prisoners must salute security officers | work=Daily NK, November 17, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=377 | access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> if they do not work hard enough,<ref>{{cite web | title= Hard Labor at Life Imprisonment Settlements | work=Daily NK, November 18, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=380 | access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> or do not obey quickly enough.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|264–265}} It is a frequent practice for guards to use prisoners as martial arts targets.<ref>{{cite web | title= Political Prisoners Used as Martial Arts Targets | work=Daily NK, December 5, 2005 | url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02600&num=412 | access-date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> Rape and sexual violence are very common in the camp,<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|489}} as female prisoners know they may be easily killed if they resist the demands of the security officers.<ref>{{citation | title= North Korea: A case to answer – a call to act | at=8.G Crimes Against Humanity: Rape and sexual violence (p. 51) | work= Christian Solidarity Worldwide |year= 2007| url= http://docs-eu.livesiteadmin.com/c8880e0f-f6ed-4585-8f09-4e4b6d11e698/north-korea-a-case-to-answer-a-call-to-act.pdf | access-date=June 26, 2012}}</ref>
Ahn reported about hundreds of prisoners each year being taken away for several "major construction projects",<ref>{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= “Crows" Take Away the Inmates | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref> such as secret tunnels, military bases, or nuclear facilities in remote areas.<ref name="mcho2000"/> None of these prisoners ever returned to the camp.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|406}} Ahn is convinced that they were secretly killed after finishing the construction work to keep the secrecy of these projects.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|123–124}}
==Human experimentation== {{main|Human experimentation in North Korea}} Kwon reported about human experimentation carried out in Haengyong-ri.<ref name="nkdb"/>{{rp|507}} He described a sealed glass chamber, {{convert|3.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide, {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|2.2|m|ft|abbr=on}} high,<ref>{{citation| title= Access to Evil | at=North Korean Killing Fields (6)| work= BBC Two |date=February 1, 2004| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEtSi_heSBc&list=PLECFCF4FF13DBC1F8 | access-date=October 18, 2013}}</ref> where he witnessed a family with two children<ref name = "telegraph"/> dying from being test subjects for an asphyxiant gas.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |title=Revealed: the gas chamber horror of North Korea's gulag |last=Barnett |first=Antony |newspaper=The Guardian |date=1 February 2004 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/feb/01/northkorea |access-date=30 September 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{citation | title= The testimony of An Myong-chol, an ex-guard at a political prisoners' camp in North Korea | at= Sadistic Experiments on Living Human Beings | work=Monthly Chosun | date= March 1995 | url= http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | access-date= June 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131022224821/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/dataroom/databoardread.asp?idx=9&cPage=5&table=dataroom | archive-date= October 22, 2013 }}</ref>
==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.<ref name="hrnk1212"/> 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.<ref name="rfa1112"/> It was further reported that the camp was shut down in June, security guards removed traces of detention facilities until August<ref>{{cite web | title= Move to Monitor Prison Camps | work=Radio Free Asia |date=October 24, 2012| url= http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/prison-10232012213542.html | access-date=January 14, 2013}}</ref> and then miners from Kungsim mine<ref name="rfa1112"/> and farmers from Saebyol and Undok were moved into the area.<ref>{{cite web | title= New Farmers of Camp No.22 Revealed | work=Daily NK |date=October 25, 2012| url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=9955 | access-date=January 14, 2013}}</ref> According to another report the authorities decided to close the camp to cover its tracks after a warden defected.<ref name="dailynk0912"/>
==See also== {{Portal|North Korea|Law}} *Kaechon internment camp *Yodok concentration camp *Kwalliso *Prisons in North Korea *Human rights in North Korea *Extermination through labour
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|author=안명철 [Ahn Myong-chol]|title=완전통제구역-북한 정치범수용소 경비대원의 수기|trans-title=Maximum Security Camp|publisher=시대정신 [Zeitgeist]|location=Seoul|date=2007-09-20|isbn=8990959284|postscript=,}} {{ISBN|978-8990959287|plainlink=yes}}. * {{cite book|author=안명철 [Ahn Myong-chol]|title=그들은 울고있다|trans-title=They are weeping|publisher=천지미디어 [Chonji Media]|location=Seoul|date=1995-08-01|isbn=8986144034|postscript=,}} {{ISBN|978-8986144031|plainlink=yes}}.
==External links== *{{cite web|url=http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf|publisher=Committee for Human Rights in North Korea|title=The Hidden Gulag|access-date=2012-09-14|archive-date=2019-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214040217/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf|url-status=dead}} – Overview of North Korean prison camps with testimonies and satellite photographs *{{cite web|url=http://nkdb.org/bbs1/data/publication/Political_Prison_Camp_in_North_Korea_Today.pdf |publisher=Database Center for North Korean Human Rights |title=Political Prison Camps in North Korea Today |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228031922/http://nkdb.org/bbs1/data/publication/Political_Prison_Camp_in_North_Korea_Today.pdf |archive-date=2013-02-28 }} – Comprehensive analysis of various aspects of life in political prison camps *{{cite web|url= https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa24/001/2011/en/ |publisher= Amnesty International |title= North Korea: Political Prison Camps }} – Document on camp conditions (torture, executions, hunger, child labor, forced labor) in North Korean prison camps *{{cite web|url= http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/ConcentrationsInhumanity.pdf |publisher= Freedom House |title= Concentrations of inhumanity }} – Analysis of the phenomena of repression associated with North Korea's political labor camps *{{cite web|url= http://docs-eu.livesiteadmin.com/c8880e0f-f6ed-4585-8f09-4e4b6d11e698/north-korea-a-case-to-answer-a-call-to-act.pdf |publisher= Christian Solidarity Worldwide |title= North Korea: A case to answer – a call to act }} – Report to emphasize the urgent need to mass killings, arbitrary imprisonment, torture and related international crimes *{{cite web|url= http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/nk-truth.pdf |publisher= Life Funds for North Korean Refugees |title= Are they telling the truth?}} – Eye-witness accounts from North Korean prison camps *{{cite web |url= http://www.dailynk.com/english/sub_list.php?cataId=nk02600 |publisher=Daily NK |title= Brutality Beyond Belief |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100724014844/http://www.dailynk.com/english/sub_list.php?cataId=nk02600 |archive-date= 2010-07-24 }} – Summary and Analysis of the North Korea Witness on the Crimes against Humanity in North Korea *{{cite web|url= http://freekorea.us/2007/02/18/holocaust-now-looking-down-into-hell-at-camp-22/|publisher= OneFreeKorea |title= Holocaust Now: Looking Down Into Hell at Camp 22}} – Satellite imagery and witness accounts of Camp 22 *{{cite web|url= http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/dprk/dprk-hoeryong-camp.htm |publisher= GlobalSecurity.org |title=No.22 Prison Camp, Hoeryong, DPRK}} – Annotated satellite imagery of Camp 22 *{{cite web|url= https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3071466 |publisher= NBC News |title= Death, terror in N. Korea gulag}} – NBC News investigation uncovers horrific, extensive atrocities
{{coord|42.537967|N|129.935517|E|region:KP-08_type:landmark|format=dms|display=title }} {{Political prison camps of North Korea}}
Category:Concentration camps in North Korea Category:North Hamgyong Province Category:1960s establishments in North Korea Category:2012 disestablishments in North Korea Category:Prisons completed in the 1960s