Salt Dox: North Korean Torture

SALT

RESEARCH

NORTH KOREA – TORTURE

Overview

North Korea has a grim record on human rights. Torture and harsh interrogation appear to be common for a variety of infractions large and small, including perceived insults toward Kim Il Sung or complaints about rations. The State Department describes treatment of detainees and prisoners as, “harsh and severe.” In addition North Korea has a policy in which three generations are punished for a person’s “crime” due to the concept of “collective responsibility.” Because of North Korea’s restrictive nature human rights violations are hard to document but several defectors, including a former guard, have escaped and relate similar tails of torture, public execution, human experimentation and infanticide in prison camps for “political prisoners” that include children as well as adults.

Because travel to and within North Korea is severely restricted there are no reports of interrogation of Westerners. A South Korean tourist, on a tour in July of 2008, was shot in the back and killed for straying into what the North Korean’s claimed was a military zone. Foreigners visiting North Korean are accompanied and monitored at all times. Electronic devices, such as cell phones and computers are not permitted. They are confiscated and usually returned upon departure.

Torture methods described by defectors:

1. A prisoner describes being tied to a bed and forced to drink huge amounts of water from the long spout of a kettle that was forced into her mouth. The only way to avoid drowning was to drink. When her belly was round and full, the guards would put a board on her abdomen and stamp on it until she vomited.

2. Detainees are forced to sit motionless and silent for long periods of time. Prisoners who moved were handcuffed from the upper bars of their cells with their feet off the floor. Detainees who talked when they were supposed to be sitting motionless and silent were compelled to slap and hit each other. 

3. A prisoner who tried to escape was suspended over a fire. When he screamed, a hook was hacked into his groin. Unconscious, he was slung into a cell with a skeletal old man.

4. A prisoner was put into a small room with water up to his waist. He could neither sit nor lie down and had to stay like that for 48 hours. When he collapsed they lifted him and forced him to stay like that. They handcuffed him and left me hanging from the ceiling with only the tips of his toes touching the ground. The pain was unendurable.

5. A prisoner was made to kneel down with a pole jammed against the back of his knees and guards trampled on his legs with their boots on.

6. Sharp bamboo is stuck under his fingernails.

7. A video of a woman being interrogated shows the guards beating her and kicking her.

8. Fingers are broken.

9. Prisoners are kicked and beaten on the head and face until ears, eyes, nose, and mouth bleed. 

10. Prisoners are forced to do stand up/sit down repetitions to the point of collapse.

11. Prisoners are detained in miniature holding cells in which they can’t stand up or sit down.

12. Prisoners are exposed to the elements for long periods of time.

13. Women are hit on their fingertips.

14. Sleep deprivation.

15. Electric shock.

16. Public nakedness.

17. Women are forced to watch the infanticide of their newborns.

18. Beatings on fingernails and backs of hands during interrogation.

19. Prisoners are put into a glass chamber with 3 main subdivisions. It is like a glass box in the middle of the room on a platform. The scientists sit around the edge and view the experiment from above. One is for blood experiments, one for poison gas and one for suffocation gas. Three or four people, normally a family, are experimented on. Once inside the lab they are all stripped naked, checked medically to ensure they’re healthy before they’re put in a chamber. The injection tube comes down through the top of the unit. Normally a family sticks together in the center and individuals go in the corners. Parents tried to save their kids until the last minute by doing mouth-to-mouth breathing.

RESEARCH LINKS

1. North Korea, Safety and Travel Security Guide

http://www.professionaltravelguide.com/Destinations/North-Korea/Safety/Risk-Assessment/Political-social-economic-conditions/

Political/social/economic conditions

Additional information

Visitors should be aware that the regime operates an extensive state security apparatus under the Ministry of Public Security and the Korean People's Army. A large military reserve force and several quasi-military organizations, including the Worker-Peasant Red Guards and the People's Security Force, assist these organizations. These personnel closely monitor the activities and conversations of foreign visitors in North Korea. Hotel rooms, telephones and fax machines may be monitored, and personal possessions in hotel rooms may be searched.

Visitors should take great care to avoid straying into restricted areas. In July 2008 a South Korean woman failed to heed a warning and was shot dead after entering a fenced-off military area adjacent to the Mount Kumgang tourist resort. The resort is situated in a strategic naval zone.  

Visitors to DPRK may be arrested, detained or expelled for a host of actions, including involvement in unsanctioned religious and political activities, unauthorized travel, or interaction with the local population. In September 2006 approximately 1,000 South Korean tourists were detained briefly in North Korea after one of them offered snacks and ice cream to a soldier. 

In addition, the importation of some electronic equipment (including short-wave radios, cell phones and computers) is prohibited. Such items are confiscated upon entry and usually are returned upon departure. Authorities also may seize books, magazines, videos and audiotapes, as well as documents that they deem to be pornographic, political or intended for religious proselytizing. 

Photography of airports, roads and bridges is prohibited and may result in confiscation of equipment or detention. Travelers must seek permission from their tour guide before taking photographs.  

Visitors should ensure that they are not seen to be critical of Kim Jong II, Kim II Sung or other members of the ruling family. It is advisable not to criticize the government or its policies as well.

2. Survivors Report Torture in North Korea’s Labor Camps, The New York Times, July 14, 1996

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E7DA1E39F937A25754C0A960958260

Lee Soon Ok. ‘She says she was beaten, stripped, sexually abused and tortured for months. Sometimes, she recounts, she was tied to a bed, forced to drink huge amounts of water from the long spout of a kettle that was forced into her mouth.

The only way to avoid drowning was to drink, but then when her belly was round and full, the guards would put a board on her abdomen and stamp on it until she vomited.”

3. The Hidden Gulag, Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea,

http://www.hrnk.org/hiddengulag/part3.html

KIM Sung Min reported that in 1997 at the Onsong bo-wi-bu (National Security Agency) detention center, his fingers were broken and he was kicked and beaten on the head and face until his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth bled. 

RHYU Young Il saw, in 1997, that out of six persons in an adjacent cell in the bo-wi-bu interrogation facility where he was detained in Pyongyang, two were carried out on stretchers, two could walk only with the assistance of guards, and two could walk out by themselves. Detainees who moved while they were supposed to be sitting motionless and silent for long periods were handcuffed from the upper bars of their cells with their feet off the floor. Detainees who talked when they were supposed to be sitting motionless and silent were compelled to slap and hit each other. 

Former Prisoner #12 reported that at Hoeryong kyo-hwa-so in the early to middle 1990s, minor rule-breakers were beaten by their cellmates on the orders of the guards, and major rule-breakers were placed in a 1.5-meter-square (16.5-feet-square) punishment cell for a week or more. 

LEE Min Bok reported being beaten “many times” on his fingernails and the back of his hands with a metal rod during interrogation at the Hyesan detention center in 1990. He also reported that at the Hyesan In-min-bo-an-seong (People’s Safety Agency) detention facility, where he was subsequently held, prisoners were compelled to beat each other. Lee witnessed one prisoner, KIM Jae Chul, beaten to death. 

Former Detainee #15 reported that he was beaten with chairs and sticks at both the Hoeryong and Onsong In-min-bo-an-seong jails in early 2002. 

LEE Soon Ok reported that she experienced beatings, strappings, and water

torture leading to loss of consciousness, and was held outside in freezing January weather at the Chongjin In-min-bo-an-seong pre-trial detention center in 1986. Her account of beatings and brutalities in the early to middle 1990s at Kaechon women’s prison, Kyo-hwa-so No. 1, (in her prison memoirs) are too numerous to detail here. 

JI Hae Nam confirmed the existence of miniature punishment cells at Kyo-hwa-so No. 1 and reported that beatings and kicking of women prisoners were a daily occurrence in the mid-1990s. She also reported beatings, during interrogation or for prison regulation infractions, in late 1999 at the Sinuiju bo-wi-bu jail, where she was required to kneel motionless, hit with broomsticks, and required to do stand-up/sit-down repetitions to the point of collapse, in her case in thirty to forty minutes. 

KIM Yong reported that he was beaten at the bo-wi-bu police jail at Maram and was subjected to water torture and hung by his wrists in the bo-wi-bu police jail at Moonsu in 1993. 

KIM Tae Jin reported that he was beaten, deprived of sleep, and made to kneel motionless for many hours at the bo-wi-bu police detention/interrogation facility in Chongjin in late 1998/early 1999. 

YOU Chun Sik reported that he was kicked, beaten, and subjected to daylong motionless-sitting torture at the bo-wi-bu police jail in Sinuiju in 2000. He described the motionless-sitting as being more painful than the beatings. 

Former Detainee #21 reported that she was beaten unconscious in mid-1999 at the In-min-bo-an-seong (People’s Safety Agency) ku-ryu-jang (detention/interroga-tion facility) at Onsong, where detainees were beaten so badly that they confessed to doing things they had not done. Women were hit on their fingertips. She witnessed one very ill woman who was compelled to do stand-up/sit-down repetitions until she died. 

Former Detainee #22 reported that he was beaten with chairs at Onsong bo-wi-bu (State Security Agency) police jail in late 2001, and beaten even worse at the Chongjin In-min-bo-an-seong detention center in early 2002. 

Former Detainee #24 reported that there were beatings at the bo-wi-bu police jail in Sinuiju in January 2000. 

Former Detainee #25 reported that one woman, a former schoolteacher who had been caught in Mongolia and repatriated to China and North Korea, was beaten nearly to death at the Onsong In-min-bo-an-seong detention center in November 1999, and then taken away either to die or, if she recovered, for transfer to Kyo-hwa-so No. 22. 

Former Detainee #26 was made to kneel motionless at the Onsong bo-wi-bu police jail in June 2000 and was made to sit motionless for six days at the Hoeryong bo-wi-bu police jail in July 2001. 

Former Detainee #28 reported that prisoners were beaten to death at the Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 at Jeonger-ri in North Hamgyong Province in 1999. 

4. State Department Human Rights report 2004

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41646.htm

In its 2001 submission to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, the Government claimed that torture is prohibited by law; however, many sources confirm its practice. According to a report by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (USCHRNK), torture "is routine and severe." Methods of torture included severe beatings; electric shock; prolonged periods of exposure; humiliations such as public nakedness; confinement to small "punishment cells," in which prisoners were unable to stand upright or lie down, where they could be held for several weeks; being forced to kneel or sit immobilized for long periods; being hung by one's wrists; being forced to stand-up and sit-down to the point of collapse; and, forcing mothers recently repatriated from China, to watch the infanticide of their newly born infants. Defectors reported that many prisoners have died from torture, disease, starvation, exposure, or a combination of these causes.

Over the years, there have been reports from defectors alleging the testing on human subjects of a variety of chemical and biological agents. During the year, media reports included several defector accounts of alleged testing of lethal gas on human subjects, but these reports have not been verified.

Reportedly, North Korean officials prohibited live births in prison and forced abortions were regularly performed, particularly in detention centers holding women repatriated from China. According to defectors who were imprisoned in the 1990s, in cases of live birth, the child was immediately killed. According to reports, the reason given for this policy was to prevent the birth of half-Chinese children. In addition, guards sexually abused female prisoners.

Prison conditions were harsh; starvation and executions were common. "Reeducation through labor" was a common punishment, consisting of forced labor, such as logging, mining, or tending crops under harsh conditions, and reeducation consisting of memorizing speeches by Kim Jong Il and being forced to participate in self-criticism sessions after labor. Visitors to the country observed prisoners being marched in leg irons, metal collars, or shackles. In some places of detention, prisoners were given little or no food and were denied medical care. Sanitation was poor, and prisoners reported they were rarely able to bathe or wash their clothing and had no change of clothing during months of incarceration.

In June 2002, Lee Soon-ok, a woman who spent several years in a prison camp before defecting to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in 1994, testified before the U.S. Senate that the approximately 1,800 inmates in her camp typically worked 16 to 17 hours a day. Lee witnessed severe beatings and incidents of torture involving forcing water into a victim's stomach with a rubber hose followed by guards jumping on a board placed across the victim's abdomen. Lee also testified that chemical and biological warfare experiments were conducted on inmates by the army. Other defectors reported similar experiences. At Camp 22 in Haengyong, approximately 50,000 prisoners worked under conditions that reportedly resulted in the death of 20 to 25 percent of the prison population annually in the 1990s.

In October 2003, Kim Yong, a former police Lieutenant Colonel, told USCHRNK that, as an inmate in a political prison camp, he had been forced to kneel for long periods with a steel bar placed between his knees and calves, been suspended by his handcuffed wrists, and submerged in waist deep cold water for extended periods.

Other witnesses who testified before the U.S. Congress in 2002 stated that prisoners held on the basis of their religious beliefs generally were treated worse than other inmates (see Section 2.c.).

The Government did not permit inspection of prisons by human rights monitors.

d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

There are no restrictions on the ability of the Government to detain and imprison persons at will and to hold them incommunicado. Family members and other concerned persons reportedly find it virtually impossible to obtain information on charges against detained persons or the length of their sentences. Judicial review of detentions does not exist in law or in practice.

An estimated 150-200,000 persons were believed to be held in detention camps in remote areas for political reasons. Using commercial satellite imagery to locate the camps and point out their main features, defectors claimed that these camps covered areas as large as 200 square miles. The camps contained mass graves, barracks, work sites, and other prison facilities. The Government denied the existence of political prison camps. In recent years, the Government reportedly reduced the total number of prison camps from approximately 20 to less than 10, but the prison population was consolidated rather than reduced. In 2003, a defector who had been a ranking official in the Ministry of Public Security told USCHRNK that conditions in the camps for political prisoners were extremely harsh and prisoners were not expected to survive. In the camps, prisoners received little food and no medical provisions.

Entire families, including children, have been imprisoned when one member of the family was accused of a crime (see Section 1.f.).

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The Constitution states that courts are independent and that judicial proceedings are to be carried out in strict accordance with the law; however, an independent judiciary does not exist. The Constitution mandates that the Central Court is accountable to the Supreme People's Assembly, and the Criminal Code subjects judges to criminal liability for handing down "unjust judgments." Furthermore, individual rights are not acknowledged. The Public Security Ministry dispensed with trials in political cases and referred prisoners to the State Security Department for punishment. Little information was available on formal criminal justice procedures and practices, and outside observation of the legal system has been limited to show trials for traffic violations and other minor offenses.

The Constitution contains elaborate procedural protections. It states that cases should be heard in public, except under some circumstances stipulated by law. The Constitution also states that the accused has the right to a defense, and when trials were held, the Government reportedly assigned lawyers. Some reports noted a distinction between those accused of political crimes and common criminals, and stated that the Government afforded trials or lawyers only to the latter. There was no indication that independent, nongovernmental defense lawyers exist. The Government considered critics of the regime to be political criminals.

Past reports have described political offenses as including sitting on newspapers bearing Kim Il Sung's picture, mentioning Kim Il Sung's limited formal education, or defacing photographs of the Kims.

Common criminals were occasionally amnestied on the occasion of Kim Il Sung's or Kim Jong Il's birthday.

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The Constitution provides for the inviolability of person and residence and the privacy of correspondence; however, the Government did not respect these provisions in practice. The regime subjected its citizens to rigid controls. The Government relied upon a massive, multilevel system of informers to identify critics and potential troublemakers. Whole communities sometimes were subjected to security checks. The possession of "anti-state" material and listening to foreign broadcasts are crimes that could subject the transgressor to harsh punishments, including up to 5 years of labor reeducation. If the transgressor is accused of using the anti-state material in a plot against the Government, the maximum punishment is death.

The Government monitored correspondence and telephone conversations. Telephones essentially are restricted to domestic service, although some international service was available on a very restricted basis. In recent years, the Government established a cellular phone network. In the aftermath of the April train explosion at Ryongchon, it reportedly banned cell phone use by the general population. The telephone system used by foreigners in the country was independent of the broader system. Persons reportedly have been placed under surveillance through their radio sets, and imprisoned and executed for statements made at home that were critical of the regime.

The Constitution provides for the right to petition. However, when anonymous petitions or complaints about state administration were submitted, the State Security Department and Ministry of Public Security sought to identify the authors, who could be subjected to investigation and punishment.

In the late 1950s, the regime began dividing society into three main classes: "core," "wavering," and "hostile." Security ratings were assigned to each individual; according to some estimates, nearly half of the population was designated as either "wavering" or "hostile." Loyalty ratings determined access to employment, higher education, place of residence, medical facilities, and certain stores. They also affected the severity of punishment in the case of legal infractions. Citizens with relatives who fled to the Republic of Korea at the time of the Korean War still appeared to be classified as part of the "hostile class." Between 20 and 30 percent of the population is considered potentially hostile. Members of this class still were subject to discrimination, although defectors reported that their treatment had improved greatly in recent years. There is some evidence that the regime has softened these restrictions, for example, by portraying persons with a bad class background who are hard workers favorably in feature films. In addition, the economic reforms have eroded the rigid class restrictions to some extent.

Citizens of all age groups and occupations were subject to intensive political and ideological indoctrination. The cult of personality of Kim Jong Il and his father and the official "juche" ideology declined somewhat, but remained an important ideological underpinning of the regime, approaching the level of a state religion. Under Kim Jong Il, the regime has emphasized a "military first" policy, purportedly necessitated by the external threat. Indoctrination is intended to ensure loyalty to the system and leadership, as well as conformity to the State's ideology and authority. The necessity for the intensification of such indoctrination is repeatedly stressed by the regime. The country attributed the collapse of the Soviet Union to insufficient ideological indoctrination and corrupt foreign influences.

Indoctrination was carried out systematically: Through the mass media, in schools, and through worker and neighborhood associations. Kim Jong Il has stated that ideological education must take precedence over academic education in the nation's schools, and he also called for the intensification of mandatory ideological study and discussion sessions for adult workers. Indoctrination also involved mass marches, rallies, and staged performances, sometimes involving hundreds of thousands of persons.

Collective punishment was practiced. Entire families, including children, have been imprisoned when one member of the family was accused of a crime. In November 2003, an investigator for a human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) said that punishment could be extended to imprison three generations of a family for life at hard labor. Refugees have also documented this practice.

5. North Korean Reveals Childhood Torture, The Washington Times, October 31, 2007

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/oct/30/n-korean-reveals-childhood-torture/

Shin Dong-hyuk, a child born in a concentration camp. There, guards demanded details of the plot. Mr. Shin was ignorant of it. He was suspended over a fire. When he screamed, a hook was hacked into his groin. Unconscious, he was slung into a cell with a skeletal old man.

6. A Survivor: Soon Ook Lee, MSNBC, October 28, 2003

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3071464/

First person account of torture in a North Korean prison camp.

Once they picked out 50 persons from our group, and they put them in the auditorium and gave them a piece of boiled Korean cabbage, and then as soon as they ate it, blood came out from their mouth and anus. And they died. I saw that in 20 or 30 minutes they died like this in that place.

VIDEO

1. North Korean Woman being interrogated

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OooEQ19XKMI

Translation and more stills from complete tape. ( good view of interrogation room)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1491872/posts

A video, which contains the scenes of interrogation by N. Korean soldiers in which they beat a N. Korean refugee inside a N. Korean military facility, is made public.   Free North Korea Broadcasting(http://www.freenk.com/ ) made public 14 photos which show N. Korean soldiers were interrogating and beating a N. Korean woman who escaped (to China), hid there for 8 years and attempted to cross Yalu river back (to N. Korea) to peddle some goods.   The video, which is about 25 minutes long, showed the outside of a guard platoon near (Sino-)N. Korean border for the first 10 minutes. The next 13 minutes of the video shows the scenes of the interrogation recorded by a (hidden) camera inside the administrative office.   The video is dated as being recorded on Aug. 17, 2005.   The soldiers forced her to kneel inside the office, and asked her when she escaped (from N. Korea), whether she is married, has any children, or has any contact with S. Koreans. When she refused to answer, they started to punch, kick and beat her with a stick.   After some beatings, she started to talk, while sobbing. She said she had been hiding in China for 8 years, has a child, and had no contact with S. Koreans.   Inside her sack, 10,000 RMB(Renminbi: Chinese currency), liquor, cigarettes, and adult video CD's were found. She explained that CD's are not for sale, but for renting to others for money.   At Sino-N. Korean border, a N. Korean unit(platoon) is assigned to guard each sector which is 2~4 km wide. Unlike refugees who are caught by Chinese securities and sent back to N. Korea, those caught while crossing a river would undergo preliminary interrogations at guard platoon (office.)   Although those caught during the daytime could be sent to the battalion (office,) those caught at night, like this woman, will get their preliminary interrogation at the platoon level.   The circumstance in which this video was taken or how we came to be in its possession would not be disclosed to insure the security of the video-taker.   The entire video is to be broadcast in a Japanese (TV) station in mid to late October (this year.)

2. North Korean Killing Fields

Includes an interview with a former North Korean prison guard

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEtSi_heSBc&feature=related

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1pxBqEJNZg&feature=related

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf4mzcTO1zc&NR=1

A former prisoner describes the most unendurable torture. He was put into a small room with water up to his waist. He could neither sit nor lie down and had to stay like that for 48 hours. When I collapsed they lifted me and forced me to stay like that. They handcuffed me and left me hanging from the ceiling with only the tips of my toes touching the ground. The pain was unendurable. They also made him kneel down with a pole jammed against the back of his knees and trampled on my legs with their boots on. They stuck sharp bamboo under his fingernails.

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogXrAdTtMNU&feature=related

Video of a prison camp with a sign across the entry, “give up your life for the dear leader.”

Part 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr_1UNWH-8k&feature=related

If one prisoner breaks a rule not only is he and his family killed, but also the 5 neighboring families because of, “collective responsibility.” Public prison executions happened once a month.

Part 6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns80-N3SqW8&feature=related

A description of the laboratories used for human research. They are all made of glass. The glass chamber has 3 main subdivisions. It is like a glass box in the middle of the room on a platform. The scientists sit around the edge and view the experiment from above. One is for blood experiments, one for poison gas and one for suffocation gas. Three or four people, normally a family, are experimented on. Once inside the lab they are all stripped naked, checked medically to ensure they’re healthy before they’re put in a chamber. The injection tube comes down through the top of the unit. Normally a family sticks together in the center and individuals go in the corners. Parents tried to save their kids until the last minute by doing mouth-to-mouth breathing.