Starvation

Starvation within the camps is not a by-product of conditions but a meticulously structured effort to weed out the week. As a matter of camp policy, the food rations of disobedient prisoners are cut to a level where death by starvation results in a short period of time. Former prisoners interviewed by the Commission attested to the fact that rations in the prison camps were frequently halved as a punishment for not working well, for being too unwell or injured to work or as a punishment for not following the rules of the camp. Former officials indicated that such ration cuts were outlined in the written instructions that the guards received as part of their training.

Mr Shin Dong-hyuk described how a girl of around 7 years of age had slipped a few grains into her pocket. A guard caught her and beat her so badly with a wooden stick that she died from her injuries:

“[A]bout twice a week, [the guards] would choose one kid and do the inspection to see if this person is stealing something or hiding something, but he was so unlucky that she was chosen as the kid to be inspected. And, in her pocket there were some grains and then the guard asked where she got it. Then, she told the guard that she picked them up on the street. There was a wooden stick that the guards used. And, the guard says that’s not the way I taught you, so you went against my teaching. So, she was beaten so badly that she fainted, and we had to take her to her mom. When she didn’t come to school the next day, we learned that she had died”.

One witness, who was detained at Political Prison Camp No. 18, picked through cow dung to find undigested grains. When a guard caught her, he kicked her in the head. She suffered a gashing wound and lost several teeth. The witness also described how a fellow prisoner was beaten to death when he tried to hide stolen corn in his mouth. When another inmate tried to pry open the corpse’s mouth to take the corn, he was also savagely beaten.

Like I said at the beginning of this chapter, this is going on now. It’s hard to believe that thousands of essentially inocent people are being treated this harshly as a matter of routine. This has been going on since the 50’s and seems unlikely to end anytime soon. The DPRK powers that be don’t even acknowledge the political prison camp’s existence…

☛ Next Up: Inside North Korea: Unbelievable Excerpts From UN Report #5