Camp 22 is a North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

n prison for political prisoner

Political prisoner

According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....

s and their relatives. The camp is the largest concentration camp in North Korea and is thought to hold 50,000 prisoners.

History

According to Ahn Myong Chol, a guard at the camp between 1987 and 1994, Camp 22 was established in 1959. As of today, there are an estimated 50,000 prisoners held in Camp 22. Most have been imprisoned because their relatives were critical of the Korean Workers' Party or its General Secretary, Kim Jong-Il

Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...

. Analysis of satellite imagery

Satellite imagery

Satellite imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made by means of artificial satellites.- History :The first images from space were taken on sub-orbital flights. The U.S-launched V-2 flight on October 24, 1946 took one image every 1.5 seconds...

 suggests that the camp is surrounded by guarded fences. Housing is clustered in fairly small groups. Reasons for housing the prisoners in this fashion are unclear, but it could be to decrease the risk of rebellion. Most of the prison covers several square kilometers to the north and to the northeast of the main administration area.

Location

Camp 22 is located in north-east North Korea, on the border with Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, 20 km from the city of Hoeryong

Hoeryong

Hoeryŏng is a city in North Hamgyŏng Province, North Korea. It is opposite Jilin Province, China, with the Tumen River in between. Sanhe , in Longjing prefecture, is the closest Chinese town across the river. Hoeryŏng is said to be the birthplace of Kim Il Sung's first wife and Kim Jong Il's...

. The camp, the existence of which is denied by the North Korean government, carries no name on state maps. It is surrounded by the villages of Wŏn-dong, Ssŏgŭndari, Kulsal-li, Haengyŏng-ni (headquarters of the camp), Naksaeng-ni and Chungch’u-dong.

Human experimentation

There have been numerous reports of human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 violations of prisoners

Prisoner abuse

Prisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are under arrest or incarcerated.Abuse falling into this category includes:* Physical abuse: Needless beating, hitting, or other corporal punishment....

 at Camp 22. Accounts include the use of a glass gas chamber

Gas chamber

A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...

 to observe the effects of toxic chemical experiments. Activities have been revealed by a chief of management at Camp 22, Kwon Hyok.

See also

• Yodok concentration camp
  Yodok concentration camp
  Yodok concentration camp is a political prison camp in North Korea. The official name is Kwan-li-so No. 15.-Location:...
  
  
• Extermination through labour
  Extermination through labour
  Extermination through labor is a principle that guided the operation of the Nazi concentration camp system, defined as the willful or accepted killing of forced laborers or prisoners through excessive heavy labor, malnutrition and inadequate care....
  
   (Nazi Germany)
• Human rights in North Korea
  Human rights in North Korea
  The human rights record of North Korea is extremely hard to fully assess due to the secretive and closed nature of the country. The North Korean government makes it very difficult for foreigners to enter the country and strictly monitors their activities when they do...
  
  
• Gulag
  Gulag
  The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
  
  

External links

• Committee for Human Rights in North Korea – Overview on North Korean Prison Camps with Testimonies and Satellite Photographs
• The Daily NK: The Hub of North Korean News – Uncensored news directly from North Korea
• Google Earth Tour of Camp 22 with witness accounts of how prisoners are treated there
• Annotated Satellite Maps of Camp 22
• "Death, terror in N. Korea gulag NBC News investigation uncovers horrific, extensive atrocities."