Kwan-li-so
Encyclopedia
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 (2003) translates as “short-term detention
/forced-labor centers” and “long-term prison labor camp
s” for misdemeanour and felony
offences respectively. In total, there are an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 political prisoners housed within the North Korean imprisonment system.
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 farm
s, furniture
manufacturing etc.
ideology.
has decided, in its mercy, not to kill, but to keep alive in order repay the nation for their treachery, through forced labour for the rest of their lives.
The emphasis of these camps is very much placed upon collective responsibility where individuals ultimately take responsibility for their own class’s “wrong doing”. Kwalliso guards emphasise this point by reportedly carving speeches of Kim Il-sung
’s speeches into wood signs and door entrances.
Work teams are given stringent work quotas, and the failure to meet them means even further reduced food rations.
conditions. Corn
rations are the usual staple diet of any prisoner but these may be supplemented by other foods found during labour such as weeds and animals. Each five-person work group has an informant
, as does every prison camp “village.”
fences usually demark camp boundaries apart from where terrain is impassable.
Prisoners are housed within scattered villages usually at the base of valleys and mountains. Single inhabitants are sub grouped accordingly into an assigned communal cafeteria
s and dormitories and families are usually placed into shack rooms and are required to feed themselves.
suggest that despite the secretive nature of the these labour camps, North Koreans are aware of a system (at the very least) of camps in existence and are known to refer to political prisoners as “people who are sent to the mountains”.
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...
’s political penal labour
Penal labour
Penal labour is a form of unfree labour in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence which involve penal labour include penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour...
colonies
Penal colony
A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...
, transliterated kwalliso or kwan-li-so, constitute one of three forms of political imprisonment in the country, the other two being what Hawk (2003) translates as “short-term detention
Detention (imprisonment)
Detention is the process when a state, government or citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges being raised against the individual as part of a prosecution or to protect a person or property...
/forced-labor centers” and “long-term prison labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
s” for misdemeanour and felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
offences respectively. In total, there are an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 political prisoners housed within the North Korean imprisonment system.
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
Sippenhaft
Sippenhaft or Sippenhaftung was a form of collective punishment practised in Nazi Germany towards the end of the Second World War. It was a legalized practice in which relatives of persons accused of crimes against the state were held to share the responsibility for those crimes and subject to...
. 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
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and iron ore), tree felling, timber cutting or agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
duties. Furthermore, camps contain state run prison farm
Prison farm
A prison farm is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts are put to economical use in a 'farm' , usually for manual labour, largely in open air, such as in agriculture, logging, quarrying, etc...
s, furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
manufacturing etc.
Overview
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.Camp locations
The following lists the operating kwalliso camps:- Prison camp No. 14Kaechon internment campKaechon internment camp is a labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. The official name is Kwan-li-so No. 14. It is not to be confused with Kaechon concentration camp Kaechon internment camp (Hangeul: , also spelled Kae'chŏn or Gaecheon) is a labor camp in North Korea for political...
: K’aech’ŏnKaechonKaech'ŏn is a city in South Pyongan Province, North Korea. Kaechon's coordinates are .-Geography:The Myohyangsan, Changansan, Ch'ŏnsŏngsan, and Ch'ŏngryongsan mountain ranges come together in Kaechon. The highest peak is Paekt'apsan. The most important rivers are the Ch'ŏngch'ŏn River and the...
, South Pyongan province. - Prison camp No. 15Yodok concentration campYodok concentration camp is a political prison camp in North Korea. The official name is Kwan-li-so No. 15.-Location:...
: YodŏkYodokYodok is a county in South Hamgyong province, North Korea. Originally part of Yonghung County, it became a separate entity as part of the 1952 reorganization of local government.-Physical features:...
, South Hamgyong province. - Prison camp No. 16Hwasong concentration campHwasong concentration camp is a labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. The official name is Kwan-li-so No. 16.- Location :...
: Hwasŏng, North Hamgyong province. - Prison camp No. 18Bukchang concentration campBukchang concentration camp is a labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. It is sometimes called Tŭkchang concentration camp . The official name is Kwan-li-so No...
: Pukch’angPukchangPukchang is a county of the province of South Pyongan in North Korea.In this county is the country's largest power station- Pukchang coal power station - with a production capacity of up to 1600 MW.-Administrative districts:...
, South Pyongan province. - Prison camp No. 22: Haengyŏng, Hoeryŏng CountyHoeryongHoeryŏng 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...
, North Hamgyong province. - Prison camp No. 25Chongjin concentration campChongjin concentration camp is a labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. The official name is Kwan-li-so No. 25.-Location:...
: Ch’ŏngjinChongjinCh'ŏngjin is the capital of North Korea's North Hamgyŏng Province and the country's third largest city. From 1960 to 1967 and again from 1977 to 1985, Ch'ŏngjin was administered separately from North Hamgyŏng as a Directly Governed City...
, North Hamgyong province.
Camp closures
Notable kwalliso closures are listed below:- In 1989, Camp No. 11 in Kyŏngsŏng CountyKyongsongKyŏngsŏng is a kun, or county, on the central coast of North Hamgyong, North Korea. The administrative center is located in Kyŏngsŏng-ŭp.-Physical features:...
, North Hamgyong Province was closed. Approximately 20,000 family prisoners were transferred to other political penal-labour camps.
- Prison camp No. 12Onsong concentration campThe Onsong concentration camp was an internment camp in North Korea. It housed approximately 15,000 political prisoners and was located in Changpyong, Onsong County, North Hamgyong. It was officially known as Concentration Camp No...
in Ch’angp’yŏng, Onsŏng CountyOnsongOnsŏng is a county in North Hamgyong Province, North Korea, located near the border with China. The administrative center is the town of Onsong...
, North Hamgyong Province was also closed in 1989 because the camp was deemed too close to the Chinese border.
- At the end of 1990, Camp No. 13 in Chongsŏng, also Onsŏng County, was closed. Approximately 30,000 prisoners were relocated after fears that the camp was located too close to the Chinese border.
- Camp No. 27 at Ch’ŏnmaChonmaChonma is a kun, or county, in northwestern North Pyongan province, North Korea. It borders Kusong and Taegwan to the east, Sonchon and Tongrim to the south, Uiju and Pihyon to the west, and Sakchu to the north. It was created in 1952 from parts of Kusong and Uiju.There are abundant mountains,...
, North Pyong-an Province was closed in 1990.
- Camp No. 26 in SŭnghoSungho-guyokSŭngho-guyŏk or Sŭngho District is a district of North Hwanghae. It was formerly one of the 19 guyŏk that constitute Pyongyang, North Korea, but in 2010, it was administratively reassigned from Pyongyang to North Hwanghae; foreign media attributed the change as an attempt to relieve shortages in...
’s Hwachŏn-dong was closed in January 1991.
- Between 2003 and 2007 it is thought that an additional three camps were closed.
Legislative structure
The kwalliso are run by a police agency and are therefore not specifically tied to the laws and courts of the North Korean government. However, each camp is expected to operate in strict accordance with State JucheJuche
Juche or Chuch'e is a Korean word usually translated as "self-reliance." In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , "Juche" refers specifically to a political thesis of Kim Il-sung, the Juche Idea, that identifies the Korean masses as the masters of the country's development...
ideology.
Operating principles
Detainees are regularly told that they are traitors to the nation who have betrayed their Leader and thus deserve execution, but whom the Workers’ PartyWorkers' Party of Korea
The Workers' Party of Korea is the ruling Communist party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , commonly known as North Korea. It is also called the Korean Workers' Party...
has decided, in its mercy, not to kill, but to keep alive in order repay the nation for their treachery, through forced labour for the rest of their lives.
The emphasis of these camps is very much placed upon collective responsibility where individuals ultimately take responsibility for their own class’s “wrong doing”. Kwalliso guards emphasise this point by reportedly carving speeches of Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
’s speeches into wood signs and door entrances.
Work teams are given stringent work quotas, and the failure to meet them means even further reduced food rations.
Working conditions
Below-subsistence level food rations coupled with hard, forced labour results in a high level of deaths in detention not only as a result of working to death but also by rife disease caused by poor hygieneHygiene
Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between...
conditions. Corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
rations are the usual staple diet of any prisoner but these may be supplemented by other foods found during labour such as weeds and animals. Each five-person work group has an informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
, as does every prison camp “village.”
Internment of prisoners
Defector statements suggest prisoners come to the camps in two ways:- Individuals are likely taken and escorted by the State Security Department, detained in small cells and subjected to intense and prolonged interrogation, involving beatings and severe tortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, after which they are dispatched to one of the prison labour camps. - Family members: The primary suspect in the family is firstly escorted to the prison camp, and the Bowibu officers later escort family members from their home to the encampment. Family members are usually allowed to bring their own goods with them into the camp however these are usually only used by prisoners as bribing commodities later on.
Encampment outlay
Guard towers and barbed wireBarbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
fences usually demark camp boundaries apart from where terrain is impassable.
Prisoners are housed within scattered villages usually at the base of valleys and mountains. Single inhabitants are sub grouped accordingly into an assigned communal cafeteria
Cafeteria
A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen...
s and dormitories and families are usually placed into shack rooms and are required to feed themselves.
Zoning of prison camps
Areas of the encampments are zoned or designated accordingly for individuals or families of the wrong-doers or wrong-thinkers. Both individuals and families are further sub divided accordingly into either a “revolutionary processing zone” or “total control zone”:- The “revolutionary processing zone” accommodates prisoners having the opportunity of future release from the camp back into society. Thus these prisoners are likely re-educated in so called “revolutionizing” areas of the camp – tasks include forced memorization of speeches made Kim Il Sung with specific emphasis placed on re-education of children. A revolutionary processing zone is thought to be operating in Pukch’ang concentration campBukchang concentration campBukchang concentration camp is a labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. It is sometimes called Tŭkchang concentration camp . The official name is Kwan-li-so No...
and also at Yodŏk concentration campYodok concentration campYodok concentration camp is a political prison camp in North Korea. The official name is Kwan-li-so No. 15.-Location:...
in South Hamgyong Province.
- There is no reported re education of prisoners in “total control zones” presumably because these prisoners are not seen fit to be released and are deemed counter revolutionary.
Awareness
Statements taken from North Korean defectorsNorth Korean defectors
A number of individuals have defected from North Korea. Since the division of Korea after World War II and the end of the Korean War , many people have defected from North Korea, mainly for political, ideological, religious and economic reasons...
suggest that despite the secretive nature of the these labour camps, North Koreans are aware of a system (at the very least) of camps in existence and are known to refer to political prisoners as “people who are sent to the mountains”.