North Korean Political Prison Camps

North Korea’s prison camps are extremely horrifying. A decade later after World War l, North Korea established its own system of prison camps (Szoldra). As same as concentration camps, prisoners were inhumanly punished. Since then, prison conditions in North Korea are horrendous and not tolerated by prisoners as well as their family members and society. North Korea’s prison systems not only frightened the prisoners, but the society as well. Because of the issues generated by North Korea’s horrifying prison conditions have not only been serious problems in history but also today, this issue is being resolve by the collaboration of society.

Imagine life on the brink of death and being completely isolated from the outside world. Your surroundings are filled with the scent of rotting corpse and the image of walking skeletons with deformities due to scarce supply of food and countless beatings, torture, and even executions. What I am describing here is the reality for the prisoners in the concentration camps of North Korea. This is a clear violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights because these prisoners are subjugated under these harsh treatments by the government of North Korea. One living example of the brutal treatment endured in these camps is about a survivor of the camps whose name is Shin Dong-hyuk.

Although most governments put positive spins on things, normally, they would at the very least give us a glimpse of the truth. North Korea doesn’t do that. Finally, Demick concludes that The citizens of North  Korea aren't treated the way they should

Since the year 1948, we, the people of North Korea have endured intolerable human rights abuses by the hand of our very own government. As individuals in this world, we are enervated with the governments unmindful treatment of its people. We demand an authentic democratic nation free from the reign of Kim Jong-Un. Must we rely on foreign nations to administer aid in times of famine while our “supreme leader” misspends funds formulating weapons of mass destruction? Must we live in a constant state of fear if we make one selves concerns heard? No, we must take the government into our own hands to better guide North Korea's political, civil, and monetary

North Korea has been hiding concentration camps from the entire world for years. Their restrictive laws keep the rest of the world from finding out, or that’s what the tiny country tries to achieve. This results in a major problem. Many people are being held against their will in camps that feed them barely any food and other necessary resources-- Some even resorted to desperate measures. “One witness said that young male inmates in North Korean prison camps became so desperate for food they would eat live worms or snakes caught in the field to feel something in their stomachs” (Park, CNN) This catastrophe affects “...up to 200,000 prisoners...” (Reist 5) and needs to be fixed. There are many stories about people who have been taken by the North Korean government and were put in concentration camps. For example, two foreign journalists were visiting North Korea and were put into a camp with no real reason specified from North Korea; it’s believed that these two girls are innocent. “[The ladies] were tried and convicted of grave crimes against North Korea, the nature of which was never specified” (NPR 6). They are

Of the myriad human rights abuses that are presented by the North Korean regime, the American detainees present a special interest to the United States. North Korea has made a policy of detaining certain American journalists and tourists that enter the state. These detainees may be held for indeterminable amounts of time and face horrid conditions in labor camps (North Korea). The human rights violations involved with these detentions are what draw ire of the United States and many other countries around the globe. To fully understand this policy, North Korea’s history of abductions and the current prisoners’ situations should be examined. With that insight, one can determine that North Korea is detaining Americans for three specific reasons: to promote domestic security, restart international negations, and to gain additional economic capital.

For my project I choose to do the prison camps of North Korea and how it's very unfair for the family's. I think it's bad for the families because if a person in said family commits a small crime the entire family goes into a prison camp even if another family didn't know they were related to said person, once the families are put into prison camps they are forced to do hard labor for the rest of their lives, and there's not enough space in the camps causing the “supreme” leader to build more camps slowly causing his citizens to die of starvation.

In February 2014, a report was released by the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The report detailed a number of human rights abuses that the country has allegedly committed. Because of the report a United Nations committee has called for the Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Court (ICC) for committing crimes against humanity. Using the report that the Commission issued as a guideline, I will examine whether or not it is plausible to state that the United States of America should be indicted for crimes against humanity as compared to the DPRK. Representatives of North Korea have stated that the United States needs to accept the accusations of the broad international community. It seems that North Korea thinks that the United States has committed crimes against humanity. Whether or not there is validity in that statement, it is worth investigating and comparing.

Human Rights Watch. "World Report 2015: North Korea." Italicized Title of Periodical. (2015): Web. 27 April 2016. .

The inadequate leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, is a merciless dictator who takes away his country's rights. Living conditions for the trapped people in North Korea are poverty-stricken and unfair. The natives to the country are being deceived of the image of what life is like, especially outside the borders of North Korea. This is the reason the United States. must take charge with the dispute in North Korea.

The events that have been unfolding inside North Korea for the past decades is absolutely undeniable, and one of if not the biggest issue that is going is the government's severe actions it is carrying out on its citizens. This issue is one that must without a doubt dealt by nations whether or not they have political alliances with North Korea or not because citizens are being dealt with some of the most inhumane conditions imaginable. The government has for many years over the past claimed that they are committing no wrongdoing and deny any reports at every confrontation they have with other leaders that their people are being subject to torturous conditions. North Korea since the end of the Korean War in the early 1950s has had its share

When there is a noticeable disregard towards a group of country’s citizens and outcry by those citizens, there is almost always a response whether by the media or by international interventions. However, with North Korea, there is not one simple resolution for many reasons — and some are because of the recent intensification of relations between a number of countries, most notably the US. But we owe it to those citizens who redefine bravery and escape North Korea with their lives and stories of its brutal leadership; this is the outcry. Internationally, we have to find a way to respond.

This report, published by the The United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of North Korea, comprehensively documents the atrocities committed by the North Korean government. Although the document examines a wide range of human rights issues, it explores each in great detail.

hrw.org said "leader Kim Jong-Un continued to intensify repression, increased control over the North Korean border with China to prevent North Koreans from escaping and seeking refuge overseas, and tightened restrictions on freedom of movement inside the country. The government also punished those found with unauthorized information from outside the country—including news, films, and photos—and used public executions to generate fearful obedience." Some reports say 80,000 to 120,000 prisoners are incarcerated in camps that are dedicated to political crimes. Many resources say there is no freedom inside the country. The UNHRC has discussed the issue since 2003. The UNHRC have adopted a resolution each year, but North Korea have rejected all of the resolutions. The latest resolution passed the Assembly by a vote of 123-16(with 51 abstentions). It means that most of the countries are believing in the existence of human rights violations in North Korea. Though this issue is very difficult to solve. Because the country is completely closed and no one can even touch. Its government doesn't have ears to hear the warnings from all over the world. In fact, nowadays, it's only worth talking about the problem on the public internet to remind that there are problems not only nuke but also the human rights abuse. I wish that someday the North Korean citizens become to be able to speak freely and escape from all of the human rights

North Korea appears on the international stage as a country existing beyond the world we all know. It isolates its citizens from the rest of international community and does not obey any rules determined by international law, but requires respect and recognition. Moreover, North Korea is one of the countries that remains aggressive towards its neighbors and applies various terrorist techniques, i.e. illegal contraband, political terror and mass abductions of other countries’ citizens in its foreign policy. The reasons for which the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) behaves so unpredictably and irrationally are diversified. First of all, the DPRK as a country is managed very irrationally – regimes of Kim Il-sung and