In its effort to normalize power production as it struggles through a massive shortage in supply this year, North Korea has been mobilizing prisoners from labor training camps to dig out coal, the Daily NK has learned.

��Upon orders to produce more coal, the state has been forcing male prisoners, who have been sent to labor training camps for misdemeanors, to coal mines,�� a source in South Pyongan Province told the Daily NK on Friday.

Labor training camps refer to correctional facilities under the Ministry of People��s Security that hold criminals who have committed less serious crimes. They are held in these camps from anywhere between one to six months, where they carry out intense labor. Usually prisoners of these camps are mobilized to construction sites or farm areas, and coal mine work is considered an extreme exception,  reflecting the serious rate of power deficiency currently facing the North.

The prisoners are worked day and night at coal towns some kilometers away, eating and sleeping on site. Many of them have been convicted of anti-socialist activities, such as not working [not going to work at a factory], selling CDs [with unauthorized content, namely foreign media], and conducting other illegal business operations.

Their working conditions are abhorrent with conditions that constantly threaten their lives. The shafts that prisoners work in do not have any wooden lining to prevent unstable rock from falling, exposing them to dangers of cave-ins at any moment.

��They don��t even have safety lights. Instead they have to push a 1t trolley for a stretch of more than 300 m with only a carbide lamp [a simple lamp that produces light from acetylene generated from the reaction between calcium carbide and water],�� the source elaborated.

��Some inmates collapse from pulling the coal trolleys all day since they only get to eat corn kernels mixed with only a bit of rice,�� she said. ��They collapse more from respiratory problems than hunger though.��

As people get towards the deep end of the shaft, they can easily experience breathing problems because of the lack oxygen. Ventilation is more important than anything, but there is none provided, and the prisoners are still forced to produce coal, according to the source.

��The prisoners who have respiratory problems aren��t able to receive any treatment and are dragged out of the shaft. Once they gain consciousness, they have to go back in,�� the source explained. ��Those who resist may face beatings from other inmates, who are ordered to do so by the on-site manager .��

She explained once such case, ��A few days ago, a prisoner in his 40s fell unconscious from suffocation and then died from the added malnutrition. He then received ��parole,���� going on to add, ��With more residents learning about the conditions at coal mines for those in labor training camps, rumors are spreading that if you land yourself in a training camp, you come out dead.��

��Women who have their husbands in these camps are passing on bribes to security officials and trying everything they can to get them out,�� she asserted. ��As they get to know of how the inmates are working, not even because of a serious crime, people are saying even during the Japanese colonial period they did exploit people this much.��

In the area of South Pyongan Province, the price of coal has risen to 20 USD from 18 USD a ton, while the planks that should be used to uphold the shafts are roughly 1,100 KPW a meter, according to the source. [1 USD = 8,300 KPW in South Pyongan Province currently]

Meanwhile, the Party-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun recently published an article stating, ��Power is the basic force behind the people��s economy, and coal is a staple and important resource for the Juche industry.�� It encouraged coal production by further writing, ��The drought that hit us like no other in the past century has restricted our hydroelectric resources, and so the way to deal with this is to produce more by burning fossil fuels.

In the province of South Pyongan, major coal mines, such as Bukchang, Dokcho, 2��8 Jikdong, and Chonsong, are responsible for bringing in much-needed foreign currency. Especially, Jikdong is tasked with providing fuel for the Pyongyang thermoelectric power plant which supplies the capital with much of its power.