North Korea pardoned a family of four that was locked up at a political prison for violations of emergency quarantine regulations.
A source in North Korea told Daily NK on Monday that the pardon was carried out last month to “conclude the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Leader [North Korean leader Kim Jong Un]’s revolutionary leadership.”
He said the recipients of the pardon were violators of national quarantine laws “who had received recommendations in their evaluations.”
Daily NK reported in October that to conclude leader Kim Jong Un’s first decade in power, North Korea was moving to pardon some political prison camp inmates incarcerated for violating emergency quarantine regulations.
In September, North Korea ordered pardon recommendations based on prisoner evaluations at political prison camps run by the Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Social Security, including reviews of prisoners’ documents at the time of incarceration, rehabilitation evaluations, their health, how well they have carried out their disciplinary work assignments, and their ideological attitudes.
The source said the authorities initially planned to pardon between two and 30 individuals, but in the end, “only 11 were recommended.”
However, even fewer than this were actually pardoned. In fact, the source said only a family of four received pardons.
The source said the pardons were conditioned on “a recommendation from a high-ranking cadre outside [the prison camp],” sarcastically noticing that “in the end, written recommendations from the party or cadres proved effective.” In other words, only those who were backed by influential, high-ranking cadres were pardoned.
PARDONED BUT STILL UNDER LOCK AND KEY
Meanwhile, the pardoned inmates are not being released directly into society, but are being quarantined in a special district for a period of time. Ordinarily, with the exception of those prisoners pardoned by the Supreme Leader himself, pardoned prisoners are sent to separate districts, where they are watched for years before being returned to society at large.
The source said the authorities first separate pardon recipients from the ordinary criminals at the political prison camps or forced labor camps, confining them to protective custody zones for a period of time.
“The temporary residential period isn’t precisely defined, but I understand it’s about one or two years,” he said.
Prisoners at political prison camps run by the Ministry of State Security were excluded from the pardon. The source said only inmates at camps run by the Ministry of Social Security received pardons this time.
Prior to this, there was speculation that prisoners in the “total control zones” of the Ministry of State Security’s camps would receive pardons. In the end, however, they were not included in the pardons.
The source said some prisoners at the prison camps’ total control zones received recommendations for transfer to less strict prison zones. “However, none of those recommendations were received even after Oct. 10 [the Party Foundation Day holiday] passed, so they are waiting with hope for the end of December,” he said.
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