Kwalliso

Political penal-labour colony
Chosŏn'gŭl	관리소
Hancha
Revised Romanization	gwalliso
McCune–Reischauer	kwalliso
Literally "place(s) of custody" (kwalli can also mean "administration", "maintenance" or "care", and the whole term is usually translated as "management centre" in other contexts than North Korea's penal system)

North Korea's political penal labour colonies, transliterated kwalliso or kwan-li-so, constitute one of three forms of political imprisonment in the country, the other two being what Hawk translated as "short-term detention/forced-labor centers" and "long-term prison labor camps", for misdemeanour and felony offences respectively. In total, there are an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners.

In contrast to these other systems, the condemned are sent there without any form of judicial process as are their immediate three generations of family members in a form of sippenhaft. Durations of imprisonment are variable, however, many are condemned to labour for life. Forced labour duties within kwalliso typically include forced labour in mines (known examples including coal, gold and iron ore), tree felling, timber cutting or agricultural duties. Furthermore, camps contain state run prison farms, furniture manufacturing etc.

Estimates suggest that at the start of 2007, a total of six kwalliso camps were operating within the country. Despite fourteen kwalliso camps originally operating within North Korea, these later merged or were closed following reallocation of prisoners.

There are currently between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners in kwalliso. The number is down from 150,000–200,000 during the 1990s and early 2000s, due to releases, deaths, and also the near-abandonment of the family responsibility principle, where immediate family members of a convicted political criminal were also regarded as political criminals and imprisoned. The earliest estimates were from 1982, when the number was thought to be 105,000.

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