By Roberta Cohen

The Washington Post

25 July, 2014

 Since the U.N. Commission of Inquiry issued its report on North Korea in February, U.N. bodies, human rights organizations, governments and think tanks have been working to respond to the crimes against humanity it documented, including the systematic abuse of prisoners and food policies that lead to starvation. But the report’s most chilling section rarely gets discussed: standing orders at North Korea’s political prison camps (thekwanliso) to kill all prisoners in the event of armed conflict or revolution.

The regime of Kim Jong-un holds an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners in four labor camps in North and South Hamgyong provinces in the mountains of the north and in South Pyongan province. These facilities have been pinpointed thanks to satellite images and testimony from defectors. Most of the prisoners in the camps have not had a trial, have been incarcerated for life and are denied any contact with the outside world. The isolation and brutality inflicted upon them are punishments for their perceived disloyalty, following such “crimes” as criticizing the Kim family and its policies, trying to defect, organizing Christian services or getting caught up in factional political disputes. Guilt by association leads to entire families, including grandchildren and grandparents, being locked away.

It was Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founder, who gave the kill-all order. His son Kim Jong-il reaffirmed it. Ahn Myong-chol, a former guard, testified before the U.N. commission that, in the event of upheaval, the guards are “to wipe out” all inmates so as “to eliminate any evidence.” He said that drills have even been held “on how to kill large numbers of prisoners in a short period of time.” Guards in other camps, as well as former prison officials, have confirmed this account.

Since the U.N. Commission of Inquiry issued its report on North Korea in February, U.N. bodies, human rights organizations, governments and think tanks have been working to respond to the crimes against humanity it documented, including the systematic abuse of prisoners and food policies that lead to starvation. But the report’s most chilling section rarely gets discussed: standing orders at North Korea’s political prison camps (thekwanliso) to kill all prisoners in the event of armed conflict or revolution.

The regime of Kim Jong-un holds an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners in four labor camps in North and South Hamgyong provinces in the mountains of the north and in South Pyongan province. These facilities have been pinpointed thanks to satellite images and testimony from defectors. Most of the prisoners in the camps have not had a trial, have been incarcerated for life and are denied any contact with the outside world. The isolation and brutality inflicted upon them are punishments for their perceived disloyalty, following such “crimes” as criticizing the Kim family and its policies, trying to defect, organizing Christian services or getting caught up in factional political disputes. Guilt by association leads to entire families, including grandchildren and grandparents, being locked away.

It was Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founder, who gave the kill-all order. His son Kim Jong-il reaffirmed it. Ahn Myong-chol, a former guard, testified before the U.N. commission that, in the event of upheaval, the guards are “to wipe out” all inmates so as “to eliminate any evidence.” He said that drills have even been held “on how to kill large numbers of prisoners in a short period of time.” Guards in other camps, as well as former prison officials, have confirmed this account.

Bringing the prisoners to safety must be part and parcel of any strategy developed to respond to a collapse in North Korea. While protecting civilians and securing nuclear weapons will

appropriately be uppermost concerns in a time of chaos, it is in the camps that the most acute cases of hunger, disease and ill-treatment will be found. It is essential that humanitarian organizations and military forces focus now on how to rescue survivors.

North Korea’s camps have long been one of the main tools employed by the Kim regime to hold on to power. One day, their dismantling will give rise to a new Korea in which monuments will be erected not to the Kim family but to its victims, which have been abandoned by the international community for too long.

Featured Image: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Kcna/Reuters)

Copyright 2014. The Washington Post.

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