North Korea: New satellite images show continued investment in the infrastructure of repression 
 
 ASA 24/010/20135 December 2013 
 
 In October 2013, Amnesty International commissioned analysis of satellite images of political prison camp (kwanliso) 15 at Yodok in South Hamgyong province and kwanliso 16 at Hwaseong in North Hamgyong province. This new document provides comprehensive assessments of kwanliso 5 and 16. The analysis is complemented by testimony from a former prison guard of kwanliso 16 and survivors from kwanliso 15. The North Korean authorities’ on-going investment in the country’s political prison camps is part of the continuing systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights throughout the country. ||||| North Korea is pushing ahead with plans to expand its infamous labor camps for political prisoners, according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International. 
 
 The human rights group released satellite images reportedly showing continued expansion at two of the country's largest political prison camps, including new housing blocks, production facilities, and reinforced perimeter security. 
 
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 “The gruesome reality of North Korea’s continued investment in this vast network of repression has been exposed. We urge the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those prisoners of conscience held in political prison camps and close the camps immediately,” said Rajiv Narayan, Amnesty International’s East Asia Researcher. 
 
 The satellite images, taken in May 2013, indicate a slight increase in population at Camp 16, the largest political prison camp in North Korea, with new housing blocks visible. In 2011, an estimated 20,000 people were believed be imprisoned at the camp, Amnesty said. 
 
 North Korea refuses to allow United Nations researchers and other outside groups access to its detention facilities and denies the existence of political prison camps. 
 
 The report also details testimony from a former security guard at Camp 16, identified only as Mr. Lee, who has never spoken publicly before about conditions in the facility. 
 
 Lee said detainees were forced to dig their own graves and were then killed with hammer strikes to their necks. He told Amnesty in an interview that he witnessed prison officers strangling detainees and then beating them to death with wooden sticks. 
 
 According to Lee, women were killed after being raped. "After a night of 'servicing' the officials, the women had to die because the secret could not get out. This happens at most of the political prison camps," he was quoted as saying. 
 
 Kim Young-soon, a former detainee in Camp 15 from 1980 and 1989, recalled a public execution she witnessed of two detainees who were caught trying to escape. 
 
 "They were brought to a stage after they were badly beaten. The prisoners were tied to wooden stakes and shot three times in their head, chest and feet,” she said. 
 
 According to Amnesty, the satellite images show significant industrial activity at Camps 16 and 15, including mining and logging. The group has not been able to verify the prison population at Camp 15, located in central North Korea about 75 miles from Pyongyang. 
 
 A report released by the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea in September said thousands of prisoners may have died following the 2011 closure of Camp 22 in North Hamyong province. 
 
 The group, citing an account from a North Korean defector, said the notorious camp once held an estimated 30,000 inmates, but numbers rapidly deteriorated to 3,000 amid a food shortage. 
 
 Amnesty International said it has shared its latest findings with the U.N., which launched an investigation into human rights abuses in North Korea in July. ||||| North Korea’s vast infrastructure of repression is further exposed in new satellite images showing the on-going development of two of the country’s largest political prison camps, Amnesty International discloses today. 
 
 In a comprehensive assessments of camps 15 and 16 - known as kwanliso - Amnesty International found new housing blocks, an expansion of production facilities, and continued tight security. 
 
 The analysis, along with newly released testimonies, is included in Amnesty International’s latest briefing North Korea: Continued Investment in the Infrastructure of Repression. 
 
 A former security official at kwanliso 16 – the largest political prison camp in North Korea – has never spoken publicly before. He describes detainees being forced to dig their own graves and women being raped and then disappearing. 
 
 “The gruesome reality of North Korea’s continued investment in this vast network of repression has been exposed. We urge the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those prisoners of conscience held in political prison camps and close the camps immediately,” said Rajiv Narayan, Amnesty International’s East Asia Researcher. 
 
 Amnesty International has shared the latest evidence with the UN Commission of Inquiry investigating human rights abuses in North Korea. 
 
 Hundreds of thousands of people – including children – are detained in political prison camps and other detention facilities in North Korea. 
 
 Many of those have not committed any crime but are merely family members of those deemed guilty of serious political crimes. They are detained as a form of collective punishment, “guilt-by-association”. 
 
 Kwanliso 16, near Hwaseong in North Hamgyong province, is approximately 560 km2, three times the size of the US capital Washington DC. It is one of the least investigated areas in the vast political prison camp system. In 2011, an estimated 20,000 people were believed be imprisoned at kwanliso 16. 
 
 The latest images, taken in May 2013, indicate a slight increase in kwanliso 16’s population with new housing blocks clearly visible. The pictures captured housing being built, giving a possible insight into the living conditions detainees face. 
 
 Significant economic activity - such as mining, logging and agriculture - is clearly visible in the satellite images. The images show an expansion of an industrial area within kwanliso 16. 
 
 Forced hard labour is common in North Korea’s political prison camps. Testimony from former detainees and officials reveals how detainees spend most of their time being forced to work in dangerous conditions with little time to rest. 
 
 Security remains tight, with perimeter fences and security points clearly marked. Movement appears to be restricted and controlled through secured entrance gates, guard towers and internal check points. 
 
 Mr Lee, a former security official at Camp 16 in the 1980s until the mid 1990s, told Amnesty International in an interview in November 2013 of the methods used to execute prisoners. Detainees were forced to dig their own graves and were then killed with hammer blows to their necks. He also witnessed prison officers strangling detainees and then beating them to death with wooden sticks. 
 
 According to Mr Lee women were disappeared after being raped: “After a night of ‘servicing’ the officials, the women had to die because the secret could not get out. This happens at most of the political prison camps.” 
 
 Kim Young-soon, a former detainee in Camp 15 between 1980 and 1989, described a public execution she witnessed of two detainees who were caught attempting to escape: “They were brought to a stage after they were badly beaten. The prisoners were tied to wooden stakes and shot three times in their head, chest and feet.” 
 
 The recent images of Camp 15 - also known as Yodok – show that 39 housing blocks have been demolished since Amnesty International last assessed satellite pictures of the camp in 2011. Only six new housing blocks have been built. The decrease in housing could indicate a slight reduction in the kwanliso population. However, Amnesty International is not able to verify the prisoner population or the fate of the detainees. 
 
 Kwanliso 15 covers an area of 370 km2 and is located in central North Korea around 120km from the capital Pyongyang. In 2011, an estimated 50,000 people were imprisoned within the camp and the population is concentrated in river valleys. 
 
 Similar to kwanliso 16, security remains tight in Yodok, and there is significant economic activity. For example, logging activities are clearly visible, as is the processing of raw lumber in a likely furniture factory. ||||| (CNN) -- North Korea is showing no signs of scaling back its fearsome labor camp system, with torture, starvation, rape and death a fact of life for tens of thousand of inmates, according to human rights group Amnesty International. 
 
 The rights group released satellite images, purportedly showing evidence of expansion, including the construction of new housing blocks and production facilities, at two of the isolated regime's largest camps or "kwanliso" --15 and 16 -- used to hold political prisoners. 
 
 "The gruesome reality of North Korea's continued investment in this vast network of repression has been exposed," said Rajiv Narayan, Amnesty International's East Asia Researcher. 
 
 "We urge the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those prisoners of conscience held in political prison camps and close the camps immediately." 
 
 Orphaned and homeless: Surviving the streets of North Korea 
 
 Horrific conditions 
 
 Amnesty commissioned the images from DigitalGlobe, a commercial satellite imagery vendor. In their release, Amnesty claims that up to 200,000 prisoners, including children, are being held "in horrific conditions in six sprawling political prison camps." 
 
 Survivor recounts escape from camp 
 
 Pyongyang denies their existence, despite satellite images and testimony from witnesses. Amnesty claims many prisoners are allegedly being held for nothing more than watching foreign soap operas or holding a particular religious belief, while others are incarcerated simply for having a family member deemed politically undesirable. 
 
 Camp 16, which is located near Hwaseong in North Hamgyong province, housed an estimated 20,000 people, according to previous analysis by Amnesty in 2011. But the group claims the latest images, taken in May this year, indicate a slight increase in population with the new housing blocks clearly visible. They also appear to show significant economic activity -- including mining, logging and agriculture. 
 
 Amnesty said the camp covered an area of around 216 square miles (560 square km), or three times the size of America's capital, Washington DC. 
 
 Camp 15, also known as Yodok, is located in the river valleys of central North Korea just 75 miles (120km) from the capital Pyongyang. In 2011, Amnesty reported that around 50,000 people were imprisoned there, though it said 39 housing blocks have since been demolished with only six new blocks built. While Amnesty conceded this might indicate a reduction in prisoner numbers, it said significant industrial activity was visible in the area, including logging. 
 
 Amnesty said its analysis of the images pointed to tight security at both sites with perimeter fences and security points clearly marked. "Movement appears to be restricted and controlled through secured entrance gates, guard towers and internal check-points," its report read. 
 
 Veteran POWs recall misery of North Korean captivity 
 
 New witnesses 
 
 Amnesty also published previously unheard testimony from witnesses in its new report. A former security official, identified only as Mr. Lee, who was at Camp 16 in the 1980s until the mid 1990s described the methods used to execute prisoners in an interview with Amnesty last month. He said detainees were forced to dig their own graves and were then killed with hammer blows to their necks. He also witnessed prison officers strangling detainees and then beating them to death with wooden sticks. 
 
 How voice from gulag affected human rights discourse 
 
 According to Mr. Lee, women were "disappeared" after being raped: "After a night of 'servicing' the officials, the women had to die because the secret could not get out. This happens at most of the political prison camps." 
 
 Kim Young-soon, a former detainee in Camp 15 in the 1980s, described a public execution she witnessed of two detainees caught attempting to escape: "They were brought to a stage after they were badly beaten. The prisoners were tied to wooden stakes and shot three times in their head, chest and feet," she recalled. 
 
 In September this year, a United Nations inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea highlighted the "unspeakable" and "widespread" atrocities being carried out in camps that required an international response, including a mother forced to drown her own baby and a prison camp inmate compelled to eat rodents and lizards just to survive. 
 
 The rights group says it has shared the latest evidence with the U.N. Commission of Inquiry investigating human rights abuses in North Korea.
– More horrific tales have emerged from North Korea via a new Amnesty International report that indicates the country's prison camps are expanding. Satellite images from May of this year indicate one of the largest sites, camp 15, features new housing blocks and production facilities; a review of images featuring camp 16 show it has added six new housing blocks since 2011, but razed 39. Meanwhile, in his first interview a former guard at camp 16 during the 1980s and '90s explains prisoners were forced to dig their own graves before they received a hammer blow to the neck; women were raped by prison officials, then vanished, Fox News reports. "After a night of 'servicing' the officials, the women had to die because the secret could not get out. This happens at most of the political prison camps," the man said. A former prisoner also recalled public executions of two caught trying to escape. "They were brought to a stage after they were badly beaten. The prisoners were tied to wooden stakes and shot three times in their head, chest, and feet," she said. Up to 200,000 people, including children, are held "in horrific conditions in six sprawling political prison camps," Amnesty noted per CNN, adding the UN now has the group's findings.