Hwasong concentration camp

The internment Hwasŏng (also Hwasong ) is a labor camp in North Korea mainly for political prisoners. The official name is Kwan -li - so ( penal colony ) No. 16

Location

The camp is situated in the district Hwasŏng, Province Hamgyŏng - pukto in North Korea. It lies about 10 km west of the city in a remote mountain valley Hwasŏng on the upper reaches of the river Hwasongchon. The western boundary is Mount Mantap -san ( 2205 m). In the north and east of the camp reaches to the valley of the river Orangchon.

Description

The camp Hwasŏng is created as a lifelong penal colony, from which there is no discharge. The entrance to the Strait of Hwasŏng and the fence with some towers are clearly visible on satellite images. The camp is about 549 km ² in size and thus the geographically largest camp in North Korea. The total population in the camp Hwasŏng about 10,000 prisoners, many of them inner-party opponents of Kim Jong- il and their families.

Function

The camp serves political opponents live long excluded from society. In addition, these people are as far as possible exploited for hard and dangerous work. The North Korean nuclear test site P'unggye -ri at Mount Mantap -san is just about 2 km west of the camp. Several dissidents had heard that political prisoners were forced to build the tunnels and underground facilities, and to work where they were exposed to radioactive radiation.

Human rights situation

As yet, no prisoners managed to escape abroad so that there is no eye-witness reports on the human rights situation in the camp. There are reports of a mass exodus, after most of the refugees, however, were recaptured.

Prisoners ( eyewitnesses )

As yet, no prisoners escaped from the camp succeeded abroad so that there are no eyewitness accounts of inmates of the camp.