Kim Jong Un took over from his late father in December 2011 and appears to have changed nothing in the political prison camps . North Korea 's National Human Rights Commission investigated abuses in N. Korean prison camps . The report is based on the testimony of 278 defectors , who described torture , starvation , deaths . Pyongyang refuses to acknowledge their existence , despite Amnesty reports of surviving inmates . The camps have been used by the Kim regime for years to suppress political dissent .
North Korea 's National Human Rights Commission investigated abuses in N. Korean prison camps . The report is based on the testimony of 278 defectors , who described torture , starvation , deaths . Pyongyang refuses to acknowledge their existence , despite Amnesty reports of surviving inmates . The camps have been used by the Kim regime for years to suppress political dissent .