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Kaechon internment camp
Forced labour camp in North Korea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kaechon Internment Camp (Korean: 개천 제14호 관리소, also spelled Kae'chŏn or Gaecheon) is a labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners and descendants of alleged criminals. The official name for the camp is Kwan-li-so (Penal-labor colony) No. 14. The camp is commonly known as Camp 14. It is not to be confused with the Kaechon concentration camp (Kyo-hwa-so No. 1), which is located 20 km (12 mi) to the northwest. Nearest train station is the Oedong station of the Taegon Line.
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Description
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Pyongyang
Kaechon
Location of Kaechon camp in North Korea
The camp was established around 1959 by Kim Il Sung[1] in central North Korea near Kae'chŏn county, South Pyongan Province. It is situated along the middle reaches of the Taedong river, which forms the southern boundary of the camp, and includes the mountains north of the river, including Purok-san. Bukchang, a concentration camp (Kwan-li-so No.18) adjoins the southern banks of the Taedong River. The camp is about 155 km2 (60 sq mi) in area, with farms, mines, and factories threaded through the steep mountain valleys.[2][3][4] The camp includes overcrowded barracks that house males, females, and older children separately, a headquarters with administrative buildings, and guard housing.[5] Altogether around 15,000 are imprisoned in Kaechon internment camp.[6]
Administration and legal characterization
United Nations investigators and independent researchers report that the kwan-li-so network, including Camp 14, is administered by the Ministry of State Security (formerly the State Security Department) and functions as a “total control zone” where inmates are held without possibility of release; crimes against humanity including extermination, enslavement, torture, and persecution were found to have been committed in these facilities.[7][8]
Satellite imagery and operational status
Independent satellite-imagery assessments published by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) in 30 November 2015 documented that Camp 14 has existed “at least as far back as 1965” and described an extensive complex of mines, agricultural fields, housing areas, and security infrastructure; subsequent imagery showed continued activity and infrastructure maintenance through 30 March 2016.[9][10] HRNK’s 22 December 2021 update concluded that the “entire camp remained in operation” during 2015–2021 and noted maintenance and new construction in multiple subareas; the U.S. Department of State’s 2021 human rights report cited these findings.[11][12] HRNK’s submission to the 8 April 2024 Universal Periodic Review also stated that Camp 14 and other inland political prison camps have expanded in recent years.[13] Korean-language outlets have tracked visible changes at Camp 14 using commercial satellite imagery. In May 2021, Daily NK reported three newly built large buildings at the camp’s headquarters area, removal and replacement of several inmate barracks, and roof repainting across multiple buildings. In December 2021, RFA’s Korean service summarized HRNK’s update noting additional guard posts along the Taedong River, continued movement of trucks around farms and mines, and approximately 53 facilities within the complex; that coverage cited an estimate on the order of 43,000 detainees at the time.[14][15]
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Purpose
The main purpose of the Kaechon internment camp is to keep politically unreliable individuals classed "unredeemable" by the North Korean government[1] isolated from society and to exploit their labour.[16] Those sent to the camp include officials perceived to have performed poorly in their job, people who criticize the regime, their children, anyone who was born in the camp, and anyone suspected of engaging in "anti-government" activities.[17] Prisoners have to work in one of the coal mines, in agriculture, or in one of the factories that produce textiles, paper, food, rubber, shoes, ceramics, and cement. Livestock raising is considered the occupation of choice for the prisoners as it gives them the chance to steal animal food and pick through animal droppings for undigested grains.[6]
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Human rights situation
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Witnesses have reported that prisoners interned in the camp are required to work for long periods, often from 5:30 to midnight.[18] Even 11-year-old children have to work after school and thus rarely see their parents.[19] Other reports describe prisoners being beaten and severely punished for minor infractions.[20][21]
South Korea’s Ministry of Unification characterizes the political prison camps (관리소) as unofficial detention facilities run by the Ministry of State Security and places Camp 14 around Chang-dong (창동), Jamsang-ri (잠상리), and Dongchang-gol (동창골) in Kaechon. It classifies Camp 14 as a “완전통제구역” (total control zone), indicating no social reintegration for inmates. The Ministry’s North Korea Information Portal lists Camp 14 with an area of roughly 155 km², and South Korean research has often cited a typical population figure around 15,000 for the site.[22][23][24] A Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) study collating government data and defector testimony listed Pyongnam Gaecheon No. 14 Camp, 15,000 people (“평남 개천 14호 관리소 1만 5천 명”) in its table of camp scales, while emphasizing that overall prisoner totals fluctuate and remain difficult to verify due to North Korea’s denials and secrecy.[24]
Food rations are scant, consisting of salted cabbage and corn. The prisoners are emaciated; they lose their teeth, and their gums blacken.[4] Many die of malnourishment, illness, work accidents, and the after-effects of torture. Many prisoners resort to eating frogs, insects, rats, snakes, and even cannibalism in order to try to survive.[1][20] Eating rat flesh helps prevent pellagra, a common disease in the camp resulting from the absence of protein and niacin in the diet. In order to eat anything outside of the prison-sanctioned meal, including these animals, prisoners must first get permission from the guards.[1]
Imprisoned witnesses
Shin Dong-hyuk
In his official biography Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden, Shin Dong-hyuk claimed that he was born in the camp and lived there until escaping in his early twenties. In 2015, Shin recanted some of this story.[25] Shin told Harden that he had changed some dates and locations and incorporated some "fictive elements" into his account. Harden outlined these revisions in a new foreword but did not revise the entire book. Shin said that he did not spend his entire North Korean life at Camp 14. Though maintaining that he was born there, he stated that, when he was young, his family was transferred to the less severe Camp 18, and spent several years there. He said that he was tortured in Camp 14 in 2002, as punishment for escaping from Camp 18.[26][27]
Kim Yong
Kim Yong (1995–1996 in Kaechon, then in Bukchang) was imprisoned after it was revealed that the two men who were executed as alleged US spies were his father and brother.[6] He witnessed approximately 25 executions in his section of the camp within less than two years.[28]
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See also
References
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External links
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