In Safety Agency Prisons, Kneeling Down Without Movement All Day

[imText1]It is known that recently some prisons in North Korea limited the number of meals from 3 to 2 times and did not provide the assigned repast, 170g per meal.

Kim In chul (pseudonym, 24), who was released after a year from the Safety Agency (police) prison located in North Hamkyung province, said in a meeting with a special correspondent of DailyNK of border areas between North Korea and China, “From the end of last year only breakfast and dinner have been provided without lunch. It led to an increase in malnourished prisoners.”

A defector who had been imprisoned in the Safety Agency prison said, “When no rice remained or prison rules were violated, then meals were limited,” adding, “As a rule, all three meals were supposed to be provided, which consisted of a bowl of rice with corns and a bowl of acorn soup.”

He revealed, “Except during the famine period in the mid-90’s, it was a rare case to give only two meals to every prisoner for a few months.”

Kim was arrested for illegally crossing a border. Kim stated “I could be released, because I bribed officials at the National Security Agency and courts into removing my crime record.” The prison where Kim was imprisoned is like a ‘detention house’ in which accused criminals are confined and examined before official trials. Educational detention houses or educational camps are different, where sentences of forced labor are served after official trials.

It is said that the jail time of the Safety Agency prison or the National Security Agency is usually 3 months to 2 years, yet in the case of political offenders it is longer.

Kim said, “If one moves slightly, then he gets a good beating,” adding, “Prisoners must kneel down without movement all day except during mealtimes.” He also gave an unvarnished account of “kneeling down without movement for 11 hours a day resulting in arthralgia of the waist. Besides that, after a year, the tailbones to the waist begins to rot.”

He explained that, “It is rare for the prison guards to beat prisoners in person when a prisoner moves a bit. Usually the guards have prisoners sharing the cell beat the one who moved at the time.”

Kim said, “As for exercising, only walking around the prison is allowed for 20 minutes during Sunday lunch time,” and, “Having visitors is fortunate. Yet an official visiting day is allowed only once every 6 months.” On the other hand, bribes make lots of visiting days possible.