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Chungsan concentration camp

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Reeducation camp in North Korea
Chungsan concentration camp
Chosŏn'gŭl증산 제11호 교화소
Hancha甑山第十一號敎化所
Revised RomanizationJeungsan Je11ho Gyohwaso
McCune–ReischauerChŭngsan Che11ho Kyohwaso
Chosŏn'gŭl증산 정치범 수용소
Hancha甑山政治犯收容所
Revised RomanizationJeungsan Jeongchibeom Suyongso
McCune–ReischauerChŭngsan 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

Chungsan concentration camp (also spelled Jeungsan, Jungsan or Joongsan) is a reeducation camp in North Korea. Its official name is Kyo-hwa-so No. 11 (Reeducation camp no. 11).

Location

The camp is in Chungsan county, in South Pyongan province of North Korea. It is in the Yellow Sea coast, around 50 km (31 mi) west of Pyongyang.

Description

Chungsan concentration camp is located in North KoreaChungsanChungsanPyongyangPyongyangclass=notpageimage| Location of Chungsan camp in North Korea

Chungsan camp is a currently operational and well-maintained largely women's penitentiary as of 2020. Encompassing approximately 11.9 km (4.61 mi), preliminary imagery analysis suggests a minimum of 1,500–2,500 are detained, although the number is likely significantly higher with estimates projecting between 3,300 and 5,000 prisoners. Since 1999 the camp is used to detain female defectors, which account for 50–60% of the prisoners, while others are incarcerated for theft, prostitution, unauthorized trade, etc. The camp's primary activities are pig breeding and agriculture with a much-smaller production of sea salt. The camp is surrounded by fields, where the prisoners have to grow rice and corn for delivery to the Ministry of Public Security.

Human rights situation

The food rations are very small. According to a former prisoner, one third of the prisoners died from combinations of malnutrition, disease, and forced labor within a year. This former prisoner reported that the prisoners were often beaten with iron bars, if they did not work hard enough. She got very ill, because her wounds from the beatings got infected. Dead prisoners are buried in mass shallow graves on a nearby hill referred to as “Flower Mountain,” (꽃동산) appropriately named because of its azaleas that bloom every spring. Another former prisoner estimates that 5,000 deceased have been buried at Flower Mountain.

In interviews other former prisoners reported the following:

  • Solitary confinement cells,
  • Hard work in farming, from 4 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. in the farming season,
  • A strict system of control and surveillance,
  • Public executions,
  • Beatings in cases of rule violations.

Camp developments

As of 2020, the facility consists of headquarters, at least fourteen detainee divisions, two to three miscellaneous support facilities, four Korean People's Army (KPA) bases, and the Sinsŏng-ri fishery station. A satellite imagery analysis released by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea in December 2020 reveals no major changes to the overall physical boundaries of the camp; however, individual detainee divisions have undergone notable updates or expansion from 2002 to 2019. Most of these reconfiguration projects include the construction of additional prisoner housing, livestock sheds, security walls, and guard towers, indicating efforts to increase agricultural output and accommodate a growing prisoner population.

Prisoners (witnesses)

  • Kim Miran (around 2002–2004 in Chungsan) was repatriated from China for illegal border-crossing.
  • An unidentified former prisoner (female, 2004–2005 in Chungsan) gave testimony to HRNK about the camp. She was repatriated from China and imprisoned without a trial for illegal border crossing.
  • Ten other unidentified former prisoners (all female) were interviewed by the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. Most of them do not want to be identified for fear that their relatives in North Korea are punished.

See also

References

  1. ^ Hawk, David, The Hidden Gulag – Exposing Crimes against Humanity in North Korea's Vast Prison System (p. 91 - 93) (PDF), The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, ISBN 0615623670, archived from the original (PDF) on December 14, 2019, retrieved September 14, 2012
  2. ^ Bermudez, Jr., Joseph S.; Scarlatoiu, Greg; Mortwedt Oh, Amanda; Park, Rosa (2020), North Korea's Chŭngsan No. 11 Detention Facility (PDF), Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
  3. ^ "Forced Labour in North Korean Prison Camps" (PDF). Anti-Slavery International. 2007. pp. 43–45. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 29, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
  4. ^ "N.Korea's Worst Concentration Camp Exposed". The Chosun Ilbo. March 23, 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
  5. "6.2.3 Working facilities and production", Prisoners in North Korea Today (PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 384–386, archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
  6. "수잰 숄티가 번역한 주성하 기자의 기사 (Congress Hearing March 5, 2012; section 2 Kkot Dong San)". The Dong-a Ilbo. March 7, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
  7. "6.2.4 Solitary Confinement", Prisoners in North Korea Today (PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 391–395, archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
  8. "6.3.5 Life in Prison", Prisoners in North Korea Today (PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 407–413, archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
  9. "6.4.3 Security", Prisoners in North Korea Today (PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 431–436, archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
  10. "6.5.1 Public and Non-Public Executions", Prisoners in North Korea Today (PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 437–438, archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
  11. ^ "A Report on a Survey of Torture on North Korean Defectors Deported Back to North Korea" (PDF). No Fence. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 5, 2009. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
  12. "6.5.3 Torture and Violence", Prisoners in North Korea Today (PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 440–444, archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
  13. "Prisoners in North Korea Today" (PDF). Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. July 15, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2012.

External links

Prison camps of North Korea
Political prison camps (Kwalliso)
Reeducation camps (Kyohwaso)

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