North Korea continues to operate nine re-education camps, where the number of inmates detained for violating the country’s law to “eradicate reactionary thought and culture” has recently increased, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a Daily NK source in North Korea said last Wednesday that the Corrections Bureau of the Ministry of Social Security “is still operating nine re-education camps, including the Chongo-ri Re-education Camp in North Hamgyong Province and the Songgan Re-education Camp in Chagang Province.”
No new camps were opened or closed, he added.
This means that the number of camps run by the Ministry of Social Security’s Corrections Bureau and their activities have remained essentially unchanged since a Daily NK survey of the camps in 2020. This stagnation contrasts with the political prison camps, where several closed or downsized camps have been reopened or expanded.
“The re-education camps house criminals who have violated every law of the republic’s criminal code,” the source said. “In terms of crimes, violators of the law to eradicate reactionary thought and culture account for the most, followed by people who have committed non-socialist and anti-socialist acts, murder, theft, smuggling, drugs, and kidnapping.
“There are also many people in prison for embezzling state property and damaging the image of the republic abroad,” he continued, adding: “The difference is that because of COVID-19, the number of illegal border crossers, who used to make up the largest number of inmates, has decreased.”
Camp inmates perform forced labor
North Korea sealed its border during the COVID-19 pandemic, ostensibly to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and severely restricted its people from entering or leaving the country. Under these circumstances, few people attempted to cross the border, resulting in a decrease in the number of reeducation camp inmates detained for illegal border crossings.