{"id":52593,"date":"2022-08-18T11:56:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T02:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=52593"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:32:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:32:59","slug":"around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A large number of disease control and security officials in Pyongyang and other parts of the country, blamed for the spread of COVID-19 in late April, were sent to political prison camps in early May, Daily NK has learned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Monday that about 450 people from the capital and provincial regions who were \u201cconnected to the personal safety\u201d of the North Korean leader were sent to political prison camps on or around May 12.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey were dragged off without proper trials, and it seems completely unlikely that they\u2019ll reenter society,\u201d he claimed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the source, the officials were secretly arrested by the Ministry of State Security, while the military\u2019s security bureau, the Central Public Prosecutor&#8217;s Office and Central Court joined the Ministry of Defense in investigating and trying the cases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the source said decisions were meaningless because they were not the result of proper trials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On May 1, Kim Jong Un took a commemorative photo with Pyongyang university students and young workers who took part in the Apr. 25 military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of North Korea\u2019s military.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily NK <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-determines-student-infected-covid-19-attended-event-featuring-kim-jong-un\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reported in mid-May<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that a university student who attended the photo shoot was infected with COVID-19. According to a source at the time, the authorities considered this a serious incident that could not be overlooked because it was matter connected to the personal safety of the nation\u2019s supreme leader.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe people who couldn\u2019t properly weed out the fever cases from the photo shoot were dragged off to the political prison camps,\u201d said the source. \u201cThe cadre in charge of the Defense Ministry\u2019s Bureau 10, which was mobilized for the event, his family and other individuals were deemed to have committed a counterrevolutionary act that gravely threatened the personal security of the revolutionary leadership by causing problems in guarding and securing Kim.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The source suggested that some of those dragged off were sent to camps run by the Ministry of State Security rather than the Ministry of Social Security. These camps are where the really serious political offenders go: once somebody goes in, they never come out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both the Ministry of Social Security and Ministry of State Security operate political prison camps. Given that most camps operated by the Ministry of State Security are tightly controlled, however, inmates are extremely unlikely to rejoin society.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, people in areas outside of Pyongyang were also punished for spreading rumors about the photo shoot incident. These people appear to have been punished as a warning to others to refrain from spreading unnecessary rumors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Specifically, the authorities arrested people who engaged in \u201cidle talk about the security of the revolutionary leadership,\u201d selecting targets at random among those who spoke of the event Kim attended, the source said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People arrested made comments that included: \u201cThey were taking a commemorative photo with Kim when the photographer coughed\u201d; \u201cHe had a fever, but he thought it was a cold and attended the event\u201d; and \u201cCOVID-19 instantly spread because everyone stood tightly together with Kim to take the photo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The authorities considered the backgrounds of potential targets of arrests, the source said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf somebody in your family was a pilot, liaison officer, a national hero or had an audience with Kim Jong Un, you were excluded from punishment, no matter how dodgy and fake the rumors you spread were,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, people aware of the arrests are staying as quiet as possible, worried that they could needlessly get themselves in trouble if they say the wrong thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The source quoted some people as saying that 450 people is not that big a number, so individuals close to those arrested are keeping silent, worried that the authorities might target them, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Ministry of State Security warned people that they should wipe those dragged off to the camps from their memories, as if they\u2019ve never seen or heard them,\u201d he added. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20220815-3\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A large number of disease control and security officials in Pyongyang and other parts of the country, blamed for the spread of COVID-19 in late April, were sent to political prison camps in early May, Daily NK has learned.\u00a0 A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Monday that about 450 people from the capital [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":52595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,1361],"tags":[724,763,995],"class_list":["post-52593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-prison-camps","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-covid-19","tag-prison-camps"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19 - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A large number of disease control and security officials in Pyongyang and other parts of the country, blamed for the spread of COVID-19 in late April, were sent to political prison camps in early May, Daily NK has learned.\u00a0 A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Monday that about 450 people from the capital [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-18T02:56:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-05T05:32:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"741\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"494\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mun Dong Hui\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mun Dong Hui\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mun Dong Hui\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f849d1af9f17b1e55ff69fe16696b107\"},\"headline\":\"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-18T02:56:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-05T05:32:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":686,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"kim jong un\",\"covid-19\",\"prison camps\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Prison Camps\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/\",\"name\":\"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19 - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-18T02:56:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-05T05:32:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg\",\"width\":741,\"height\":494,\"caption\":\"Kim Jong Un at a commemorative photo event reported by North Korean state-run media in early May 2022. (Rodong Shinmin-News1)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily NK English\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Daily NK English\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"description\":\"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f849d1af9f17b1e55ff69fe16696b107\",\"name\":\"Mun Dong Hui\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/1654218791150-150x150.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/1654218791150-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/1654218791150-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Mun Dong Hui\"},\"description\":\"Mun Dong Hui is one of Daily NK's full-time reporters and covers North Korean technology and human rights issues, including the country's political prison camp system. Mun has a M.A. in Sociology from Hanyang University and a B.A. in Mathematics from Jeonbuk National University. He can be reached at dhmun@uni-media.net\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/mun-dong-hui\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19 - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19","og_description":"A large number of disease control and security officials in Pyongyang and other parts of the country, blamed for the spread of COVID-19 in late April, were sent to political prison camps in early May, Daily NK has learned.\u00a0 A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Monday that about 450 people from the capital [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2022-08-18T02:56:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-05T05:32:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":741,"height":494,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mun Dong Hui","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mun Dong Hui","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/"},"author":{"name":"Mun Dong Hui","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/f849d1af9f17b1e55ff69fe16696b107"},"headline":"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19","datePublished":"2022-08-18T02:56:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-05T05:32:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/"},"wordCount":686,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg","keywords":["kim jong un","covid-19","prison camps"],"articleSection":["News","Prison Camps"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/","name":"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19 - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-18T02:56:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-05T05:32:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/20220513_mdh_kim_photo_2.jpg","width":741,"height":494,"caption":"Kim Jong Un at a commemorative photo event reported by North Korean state-run media in early May 2022. (Rodong Shinmin-News1)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/around-450-sent-to-political-prison-camps-following-investigation-into-spread-of-covid-19\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Around 450 sent to political prison camps following investigation into spread of COVID-19"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization","name":"Daily NK English","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","width":272,"height":90,"caption":"Daily NK English"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"description":"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/f849d1af9f17b1e55ff69fe16696b107","name":"Mun Dong Hui","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/1654218791150-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/1654218791150-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/1654218791150-150x150.jpg","caption":"Mun Dong Hui"},"description":"Mun Dong Hui is one of Daily NK's full-time reporters and covers North Korean technology and human rights issues, including the country's political prison camp system. Mun has a M.A. in Sociology from Hanyang University and a B.A. in Mathematics from Jeonbuk National University. He can be reached at dhmun@uni-media.net","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/mun-dong-hui\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52593"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52597,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52593\/revisions\/52597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}