The Hidden Gulag

1 1 David HawkA Report by the Committee for Human Rights in North KoreaThe Hidden GulagSecond EditionThe Lives and Voices of Those Who are Sent to the Mountains HRNKE xposing North Korea s Vast System of Lawless ImprisonmentThe Hidden Gulag Second EditionCopyright 2012 by the Committee for Human Rights in North KoreaAll rights reservedPrinted in the United States of AmericaISBN: 0615623670 Library of Congress Control Number: 2012939299 Committee for Human Rights in North Korea1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 435 Washington, DC 20036 The Hidden Gulag Second EditionThe Lives and Voices of Those Who are Sent to the Mountains IThe Hidden Gulag Second EditionAbouT THe CoMMiTTee for HuMAn riGHTS in norTH KoreAIn October of 2001, a distinguished group of foreign policy and human rights specialists launched the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) to promote human rights in that country.

2 HRNK seeks to raise awareness and to publish well-documented research that focuses international attention on North Korean human rights conditions, which have been so closed off from the rest of the Committee s studies have established its reputation and leading role in the growing interna-tional network of organizations committed to opening up and promoting reform and transition in North Korea. The Committee s reports have addressed many of the fundamental human rights issues in North Korea. Its 2003 report, The Hidden Gulag : Exposing North Korea s Prison Camps (by David Hawk), was the first comprehensive study of the camps.

3 Other reports published by the Committee have included: Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Famine in North Korea (by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, 2005) The North Korean Refugee Crisis: Human Rights and International Response (by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, 2006) Failure to Protect: A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in North Korea (published with DLA Piper LLP, 2006) Legal Strategies for Protecting Human Rights in North Korea (published with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Florn LLP, 2007) Failure to Protect: The Ongoing Challenge of North Korea (published with DLA Piper LLP, 2008) Lives for Sale: Personal Accounts of Women Fleeing North Korea to China (by Lee Hae-young, 2009) After Kim Jong-il: Can We Hope for Better Human Rights Protection?

4 (by Kim Kwang-jin, 2009) Taken! North Korea s Criminal Abduction of Citizens of Other Countries (by Yoshi Yama-moto, 2011) North Korea after Kim Jong-il: Can We Hope for Better Human Rights Protection? (by Kim Kwang-jin, 2011)The Committee is currently finalizing reports on: Songbun, North Korea s social classification system, which is at the root of human rights violations in North Korea; the structure and operation of North Korea s public security agencies, which shows the system of political repression employed by North Korea.

5 And the restrictions on information circulation inside North of DireCTorSroberta Cohen Co-Chair Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, specializing in humanitarian and human rights issues Andrew natsios Co-ChairFormer Administrator, USAID Professor, Georgetown UniversitySuzanne Scholte Vice-Co-ChairPresident, Defense Forum Foundation Seoul Peace Prize Laureate Gordon flake Vice-Co-Chair Executive Director, Mike and Maureen Mans-field Foundation Helen-Louise Hunter Secretary AttorneyJohn Despres Treasurer Consultant on International Financial & Strategic AffairsGreg Scarlatoiu Executive Director, HRNKM orton Abramowitz Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation Jerome Cohen Of Counsel (Retired Partner)

6 , Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Lisa Colacurcio Advisor, Impact Investments rabbi Abraham Cooper Associate Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center, LAJack DavidSenior Fellow, Hudson Institute Paula Dobriansky Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Universitynicholas eberstadt Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute Carl GershmanPresident, National Endowment for Democracy Steven Kahng General Partner, 4C Ventures, Inc. David Kim Coordinator, The Asia Foundation Thai Lee President, SHI International Inc.

7 Debra Liang-fenton Institute of PeaceFormer Executive Director, HRNK Winston LordFormer Assistant Secretary for East Asia, Department of StateMarcus noland Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International EconomicsJacqueline Pak Fellow, East Asia Program, Cornell University Katrina Lantos Swett President and CEO, Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice richard Williamson Principal, Salisbury Strategies(affiliations provided solely for identification)The Hidden Gulag Second EditionExecutive SummaryAbout the AuthorAcknowledgements Preface Map Part one: introduction Not in a VacuumThe Second Edition of Hidden GulagNotes on Research, Limits of Information, Sources, Translations, and Transliterations Organization of the ReportScope of Information: Documenting the Hidden Gulag Glossary of Repression Part Two: The Kwan-li-so Political Penal Labor ColoniesThe Prisoners.

8 Who They AreOverview of the Prison Labor Camp SystemGuilt by AssociationForced Disappearances and Incommunicado Detention without TrialSystemic and Severe MistreatmentInduced Malnutrition, Slave Labor and High Rates of Deaths in DetentionPrisoner Informants and Intra-Prisoner Surveillance and HostilityExecution and Extreme Punishments Sexual Relations, Marriage, and Prison Camp SchoolsThe Sexual Exploitation of WomenPrisoner ReleasesThe Economic Role of the Forced Labor Camps The Absence of Due Process: Arbitrary and Extra-Judicial DetentionSuccessive Waves of Political Imprisonment: A Historical Overview How Do We Know: A Brief Historical Recounting Scholary InsightsEarly Non-Governmental Organization DocumentationPrisoners Memoirs and TestimoniesThe First Satellite Photographs of the Prison CampsHidden Gulag (first edition) Google Earth: Mapping the FencesContemporary Witnesses and TestimonyKwan-li-so No.

9 14 .. of ConTenTSIVMr. Shin Dong-hyuk Mr. Kim Yong Kwan-li-so Mrs. Kim Young-sun Mr. Kang Chol-hwanMr. An HyukMr. Kim Tae-jin Mr. Lee Young-kukFormer Prisoner # 27Mr. Kim Eun-cholMr. Jung Gwang-ilFormer Prisoner # 28 Kwan-li-so No. 18 Mrs. Kim Hye-sookMr. Lim Jung-soo Former Prisoner # 29Mr. Kim Yong (continued)Kwan-li-so No. 22Mr. Ahn Myong-chol Other Kwan-li-soClosed Kwan-li-soMr. Yoshio KinoshitaMr. Choi Dong-chulPart Three: The Kyo-hwa-so: Long-Term Prison-Labor facilities Introduction Kyo-hwa-so Witnesses and Testimony Former Prisoner # 37, Kyo-hwa-so No.

10 12 Former Prisoners # 28, Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 Ms. Seo Jin, Kyo-yang-so No. 55 Former Prisoner # 31, Chung-san Kyo-hwa-soMrs. Bang Mi-sun, Kyo-hwa-so No. 15 Mr. Yoo Chun-sik, Kyo-hwa-so No. 22 Ms. Ji Hae-nam, Kyo-hwa-so No. 1 Mrs. Lee Soon-ok, Kyo-hwa-so No. 1 Former Prisoner # 6, Kyo-hwa-so No. 77 Former Prisoner # 3, Kyo-hwa-so No. 3 Former Prisoner # 12, Hoeryong Kyo-hwa-so Former Prisoner # 19, Kyo-hwa-so No. 4 .. Hidden Gulag Second EditionPart four: Detention facilities and Punishments for north Koreans forcibly repatriated from China: Violence Against WomenWhy They Go: The Flow of North Koreans to ChinaThe Situation of North Koreans in ChinaEncountering South Koreans or South Korean CultureTrafficking of North Korean WomenProtection DeniedCorridors of Forced Repatriation.