[imText1]In 1993 when a long-term non-convert (a POW or spy from North Korea who refused to convert their ideology from communism and was imprisoned in South Korean prison for a long time), Mr. Lee In Mo was repatriated to North Korea, North Korean society held huge welcoming festivals. Mr. Lee lived in South Korean prison for 34 years without writing a conversion agreement, so he was to be a “good example of allegiance” for popular propaganda. Biographic movies were produced on his life.
“People Come Out Alive from Prison in South Korea?
However, people’s response was something unexpected.
“What kind of place is a prison in South Korea that a person who was imprisoned for many decades come out alive?”
In North Korea, regardless of the kind of prison, staying alive in a prison for more than 30 years was something logically not acceptable. Some of the defectors testify that when they heard they give three meals a day with rice and other food including soup and one can testify by “fasting,” they thought “it is a heaven not a prison.”
In the testimony, “They are crying” written by Ahn Myung Chul who used to be a prison guard at a gulag, we can see many parts that describes people’s response to the movie on Mr. Lee In Mo.
“The movie that was made after Lee In mo was repatriated, which is the best movie made, is called “Minjok and Destiny.” Sequel 12-14 is on Lee In Mo’s life. In the movie, Lee In Mo suffers from cold weather and hunger, and he was frequently beat up that his leg becomes permanently injured. He survives on rats. The prison guards who watched the film were disappointed. 34 years of imprisonment should have made a person a corp. It was unthinkable that a prisoner survived more than few months, when a person after three months of imprisonment of concentration camp, although he may be released alive he usually dies within 5-6 months. The actor was acting hungry, eating a rat, but it was pathetic because we could see that the actor was not acting but trying to eat anything he can grasp.” – They are Crying, p.107
Is there any Sincerety in President Roh’s Statement?
Now we are facing a question difficult to answer.
“What kind of place is a North Korea gulag that North Korean people call South Korea prison a heaven?”
After it was known to the public that President Bush invited Kang Chul Hwan, the author of “The Aquariums of Pyongyang” to the White House and asked him about North Korea gulags in person, there are many people asking us the reality of the North Korean gulags, details of the facilities, why they were made, what kind of people are sent to gulags and how those testified escaped.
During his visit to the US, President Roh Moo Hyun said, “If I lived in North Korea, I would be probably in a gulag (political prison)” as though he was bragging about his past activities in democracy movement. It makes us wonder if he read even one of the testimonies of the North Korean defectors regarding gulag.
If there was any sincerity in President Roh’s statement, and if knew the reality of the gulags in North Korea, then before he would say something like that, he would have put North Korean human rights on the top of the agenda on the policy toward North Korea.
DailyNK will release special column, “Ah! Gulags” of seven sequels, on North Korean gulags (in North Korean it is called “area for those to be persecuted”) based on testimonies of former prisoners and guards of the gulags.
After 1990s The Truth Revealed
We could not find much about North Korean gulags until then early 1990s. Although there were testimonies about their existence, there were no testifiers who have lived in gulags.
However, unlike the former prisoners who defected to South Korea such as Kang Chul Hwan or Ahn Hyuk, the gulags were actually started to be known to the public by the testimony of Ahn Myung Chul who was a former prison guard. Then the more and more was revealed about gulags in North Korea once more former prisoners started arrive starting 1998.
Actually, they were far from “political criminals.” Although their background or reasons for imprisonment differs, the common factor among them are the fact that they were all the people who paid a total allegiance to the North Korean regime. In other words, they were the ones who lived better, the ones who had higher status in the society.
For example, the family of Kang Chul Hwan were the “returnees” who offered their entire family assets to the North Korea regime and went to North Korea by ship form Japan, and the family Ahn Chul Hwan was a high class family, Ahn’s father was a high level government official. Ahn testified that he was born in such a rich family that he used to wear duck feather parker when he was a student, which the people of North Korea cannot even dream about.
Kang Chul Hwan’s entire family was taken to the political prison when someone in the Party falsely denounced Kang’s grandfather and was purged and Ahn “destroyed” his life when he traveled to Baek Du Mountain due to curiosity toward China. Because of guilt, Ahn testified to the National Security Office that he has traveled to China, but he was named as a spy and taken to a political camp.
Testimonies of Former Prisoners Now Verifiable
When the former prisoners of North Korean gulags published their testimonies, many people did not believe them thinking “It cannot be that bad…” There are still people who do not believe it. However, prisoners of Gulag %15 of Yoduk such as Kang Chul Hwan and Ahn Hyuk defected to South Korea as if they followed one after the other. As of June 2005 present, there are ten former Yoduk gulag prisoners in South Korea.
They include Kim Young Sun, imprisoned in 1970~78, Kim Tae Jin, imprisoned in 1988 ~1992, and Lee Young Kuk, former bodyguard of Kim Jong Il imprisoned in 1995~1999 as well as Mr. P (released in 2001) and Mr K.
Their testimonies almost exactly match one another. For example, dates of certain incidents, remembered people, number of prisoners, methods of punishments and other things exactly overlap each other.
For this reason arguments of the pro-North Korea left wing lost validity that testimonies of the defectors are exaggerated or have flaws. If they are still suspicious, then they can always visit “Democracy Network against North Korean Gulag” which was organized and by former prisoners of gulags.
”Revolutionization Area(composed of Gwalliso:political penal-labor colony and Gyohwaso:long-term prison labor camp)” is Another Heaven Compare to Totally Restricted Area
Thanks to the former prisoners’ testimonies the truth covered with dark veil was revealed more and more. What surprises us is that all the former prisoners who have defected are from “revolutionizaiton area.” At least prisoners in the revolutionization area have possibility of being released if they survive the years of sentence, where the condition is relatively better.
The person who testifies about “totally restricted area” is Ahn Myung Chul, who used to be a prison guard. His description of the reality in the totally restricted area is a living hell. There is no survivor from the totally restricted area among the defectors. However, the truth will be revealed when the time comes.
Ogawa Haruhisa, a professor at Tokyo University who has long been studying for the North Korean gulag points out, “One of the important factors is that people are disinterested in gulags the defectors are testifying because it is too horrific to believe. Most of the testimonies are not translated so many countries interested about North Korean human rights are still not aware of the horrific realities inside the gulags.”
It is not that it is not true because it is too horrible to believe. We must open our eyes, which we would rather have them closed, and see the truth that is revealed more and more. The meeting of President Bush and Kang Chul Hwan was a beginning.
