Hoeryong concentration camp
| Hoeryong concentration camp | |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 회령 제22호 관리소 |
|---|---|
| Hancha | |
| Revised Romanization | Hoeryeong Je Isipi-ho Gwalliso |
| McCune–Reischauer | Hoeryŏng Che Isibi-ho Kwalliso |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 회령 정치범 수용소 |
| Hancha | |
| Revised Romanization | Hoeryeong Jeongchibeum Suyongso |
| McCune–Reischauer | Hoeryŏng Chŏngch'ibŏm Suyongso |
Hoeryong concentration camp (or Haengyong concentration camp) is a political prison camp in North Korea. The official name is Kwalliso (penal labour colony) No. 22. The camp is a maximum security area, completely isolated from the outside world. Prisoners and their families are held in lifelong detention. Extreme human rights violations including routine torture, forced labor and human medical experiments have been attested to by defectors previously employed at the camp.
In 2012, satellite image analysis and reports indicated major changes.
Camp 22 is located in Hoeryong county, North Hamgyong province, in northeast North Korea, near the border. It is situated in a large valley with many side valleys, surrounded by 400–700 m (1,300–2,300 ft) high mountains. The southwest gate of the camp is located around 7 km (4.3 mi) northeast of downtown Hoeryong, the main gate is located around 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Kaishantun, Jilin province of China. The western boundary of the camp runs parallel at a distance of 5–8 km (3.1–5.0 mi) from the Tumen River, which forms the border with China. The camp was not included in maps until recently and the North Korean government denied its existence.
The camp was founded around 1965 in Haengyong-ri and expanded into the areas of Chungbong-ri and Sawul-ri in the 1980s and 1990s. 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 1991 and Kwan-li-so No. 13 (Changpyong) in 1992.
Camp 22 is around 225 km2 (87 sq mi) in area. It is surrounded by an inner 3300 volt electric fence and an outer barbed wire fence, with traps and hidden nails between the two fences. The camp is controlled by roughly 1,000 guards and 500–600 administrative agents. The guards are equipped with automatic rifles, hand grenades and trained dogs.
In the 1990s there were an estimated 50,000 prisoners in the camp. Prisoners are mostly people who criticized the government, people deemed politically unreliable (such as South Korean prisoners of war, Christians, returnees from Japan) or purged senior party members. Based on the guilt by association principle (Korean: 연좌제, yeonjwaje) they are often imprisoned together with the whole family including children and the elderly, and including any children born in the camp. All prisoners are detained until they die; they are never released.
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