[imText1]Defector Kim Soo Cheol, kept his face covered while testifying to the shocking atrocities of the North Korean gulags. He had been imprisoned in kwan-li-so No. 15 (kwan-li-so is usually translated as political penal-labor colony) in Yodok, North Hamkyung Province, from 2000 to 2003.
Yesterday in a Seoul restaurant, the Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulags, held a press conference to announce a list of repatriatees imprisoned in North Korean gulags. It was there that Kim Soo Cheol revealed a list of inmates names and prison situations. The Network did not tell exactly when Mr. Kim had been imprisoned, lest his identity become known.
Kim Soo Cheol said, “North Korea still carries on both public and secret executions. Defectors who are captured while trying to flee to the South are mostly imprisoned in gulags. It is common for officers of the National Security Agency to entice and abduct defectors for the sake of records and promotions.”
A Prisoner Who Criticized Kim Jong Il Was Secretly Executed
Regarding public executions in gulags, Mr. Kim said, “You will be executed publically if you are caught fleeing the gulag. I witnessed the public executions of Kim Ho Seok and Choi Kwang Ho, who had been captured during their attempted escape.”
Kim explained that “Kim Cheol Min was imprisoned in 2000, and was secretly executed because he had frequently criticized the Kim Jong Il regime during his four month imprisonment by saying that North Korean people were poor due to Kim Jong Il’s false policies, and that it should be known that the Chinese are much richer than North Koreans.”
According to Mr. Kim, if one criticizes the Kim Jong Il regime while in prison, he is summoned by the National Security Agency and never returns, most likely executed in secret.
Concerning the repatriatees in gulags who have failed to enter South Korea, Mr. Kim said, “Five out of the seven people were my inmates who had been taken while trying to enter the South from Russia in 2000.”
Mr. Kim continued, “As for the five, I buried the bodies of Kim Sung Il (18) and Park Yong Soon (30). They died of malnutrition. I guess Hu Yung Il (38), Lee Dong Myung (27), and Jang Ho Yung (27) are still in the gulag.”
Mr. Kim also told that Roh Kwang Cheol (37), who had been arrested while rushing into South Korean embassy in Beijing in 2000, was imprisoned in the Yoduk gulag, and the brothers, Kwang Sun (19 at the time of imprisonment), and Kwang Il (16 at the time of imprisonment), were also taken to the Yoduk gulag.
Enticement And Abduction of North Korean Defectors for Records
Mr. Kim reported on the National Security Agency’s enticement and abduction of North Korean defectors.
Mr. Kim said, “The officers of the National Security Agency lure North Korean defectors by saying that they will send them to the South, and then abduct them. Park Gum Chool, an officer of the North Hamkyung Province branch of the National Security Agency pretended to be a South Korean, and lured and abducted a North Korean defector named Kim Il Tae (43), and took him to one of the gulags.”
Mr. Kim clearly named the other members that had participated in the abduction operation. They are Ji Yung Soo (57), the field instructor, Yoon Chang Joo (57), Park Gun Choon, Kim Song San, Kim Hwa Ryong, and Ji Kwang Cheol. His testimony matches the testimony of Lee Chun Kil (35, pseudonym for the sake of his protection), who fled to South Korea in 2003 after he had taken part in several abduction operations in North Korea.
In response to the question of whether people are taken to gulags because of their religion, Mr. Kim said, “Those defectors who converted to Christianity in China suffered extreme beating and torture, and their wounds were not treated. An Kown Soon (29 at the time of his death) died in a detention cell of Huiryeong City branch of the National Security Agency in 2000 because he was not treated after being beaten.”
Mr. Kim was imprisoned in Seolimcheon of Yodok. Seolimcheon had been a civilian area, but was turned into a political prison camp in 2000 after it had been included in a “Revolutionization Area” (re-education section). Typical gulags are “Completely Controlled Areas” (life-imprisonment prisons). But No. 15 at Yodok is unique in that it has a “Revolutionization Areaa,” from which small number of prisoners may be released for good behavior.
In answering the question of how he was able to memorize personal histories of the prisoners, Mr. Kim said, “I was the leader of a worker squad consisting of 80 people, and had the list of profiles that showed those 80 workers’ personal histories.”
Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulags said that they would announce an additional supplementary list of prisoners’ names during the Seoul Summit, “Promoting Human Rights in North Korea”, which is scheduled to begin on December 8th this year.
Before the press conference, Mr. Kim said, “The existence of the gulags is the unfortunate reality of North Korea, and I want to inform South Koreans of the severe human rights abuses in these gulags.”
