Mr Jeong Kwang-il was detained in an underground interrogation facility operated by the SSD in Hoeryoung (North Hamgyong Province). He was held there on suspicion of being a spy. During his 10 month stay his weight dropped from 75 kilograms to 36 kilograms.
Among other mistreatments Mr Jeong Kwang-il was hung upside down and beaten with sticks. He also suffered the so-called “pigeon torture,” sometimes for three days in a row – “Your hands are handcuffed behind your back. And then they hang you so you would not be able to stand or sit… There are no people watching you. There is nobody. And you can’t stand, you can’t sleep. If you are hung like that for three days, four days, you urinate, you defecate, you are totally dehydrated. … [the pigeon torture] was the most painful of all tortures… [it] was so painful that I felt it was better to die”.
Ms Kwon Young-hee was detained because her brother had disappeared and the government thought he’d fled the country. During her stay she was beaten round the head with a club and forced to write a 100 page critique of herself.
Another witness Mr Kim was punished for trying to seek political asylum in Russia…
“It’s been ten years but I still have scars. And my teeth, since I came to South Korea, the South Korean Government has given me artificial teeth, but at the time my teeth were not there. And if you look at my ear, it’s been 10 years and still my ear hurts. And on my head, because I was hurt with wooden clubs. And so I still have scars, I think about 10 scars in all on the head”.
Another female inmate said the following…
“They just basically beat you to near death. … If my answer did not satisfy the official interrogator than he made me kneel down on the concrete floor and started beating me”.
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