In interviews compiled by human rights groups including Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) and the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), several recently escaped defectors described brutal living conditions inside kwanliso—the country’s vast network of political prison camps. These accounts add to the growing body of evidence that North Korea continues to operate a system many experts have likened to modern-day gulags.
“I worked 14 hours a day in a coal mine with no protective gear,” said one former prisoner, who was held in Camp 18 for over eight years. “We were given a handful of cornmeal and salt water to survive. Those who collapsed were left behind.”
The prisoners reported being detained without trial, often for reasons as minor as speaking critically of the government or having a relative suspected of disloyalty. Entire families—children included—were sent to camps under North Korea’s policy of “guilt by association.”
One woman, who spent over a decade in a camp near Kaechon, recounted being tortured during interrogation sessions and witnessing the execution of fellow inmates. “There was no law. Guards could beat or kill anyone they wanted,” she said. “We were animals in their eyes.”
The UN and independent watchdogs have long accused North Korea of running a network of political prison camps where gross human rights violations are routine. A 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that the abuses amounted to crimes against humanity. These included extrajudicial killings, starvation, forced labor, and sexual violence.
Satellite imagery confirms the continued operation and expansion of several facilities, despite Pyongyang’s official denial of their existence. Analysts have observed new construction within known camp perimeters as recently as early 2025.
“These new testimonies are consistent with decades of evidence,” said Elizabeth Salmón, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK. “The suffering inside these camps is unimaginable, and the world must not look away.”
Former inmates also described the psychological toll of their imprisonment, including the forced witnessing of public executions and the indoctrination sessions designed to break prisoners' will.
“I watched a girl get beaten to death for stealing a potato,” said another survivor. “You learn not to cry. You learn not to speak. You learn only how to survive.”
The North Korean government continues to deny all allegations of political prison camps, dismissing them as fabrications by “hostile forces.” However, the growing chorus of survivor voices and visual evidence continues to challenge that narrative.
Human rights groups are calling on the international community to prioritize accountability and support for victims. Many of the former prisoners now living in South Korea or abroad are struggling with trauma, poverty, and isolation.
“Justice is still far away,” said one defector. “But by telling our stories, we are proving that the world cannot say it didn’t know.”