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Political prisoners working in the mines at Settlement No. 12 bitterly resented the degrading treatment and rioted in the early seventies. The prisoners ambushed the families of security and guard officers with shovels, picks, stick, axes and hammers when the officers had all gone for work. Almost all the wives and children were killed. When the security officers and guards rushed back to their village, it had already been destroyed and many families killed.
The guards fired at the prisoners indiscriminately and killed all the prisoners involved, some 5,000 of them. The prisoners fought it out but could not overcome the guards armed with machine guns and AK rifles.
Since then, the prisoners were treated more harshly and many prisoners were killed for minor offenses. The security officers planted informants among the prisoners, strengthened the control system within the detention settlements and improved the training of guards. This incident was frequently cited during ideology sessions as an example of why prisoners were our enemies and why we should be merciless to them.
A 27 year-old female prisoner named Choi was an accountant and a sexual toy for Yang-ki Chung, a security officer and her boss. She had free access to his office for this reason. One day, she waited for him in his office with the intention of killing him and taking his pistol. But she looked so nervous that the security officer became suspicious, searched her body and found a 15-centimeter long knife under her pants.
He was furious and shot her with all seven bullets in his pistol. The security officer was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel and transferred to Settlement No.16 in 1990.
