The newspaper quoted a source in North Korea as saying: “Camp 17 is considered a state secret. There are no official records that show information about its precise geographical location.”
The source explained, according to the newspaper, which is based in Seoul, South Korea, that “official documents indicate that the camp is located in a location that the North Koreans have never heard of before, which indicates that it is not true.”
The source indicated a number of information related to Camp 17, which are:
The camp is run by what is known as the “Ministry of Social Security,” which follows a very strict confidentiality policy regarding it.
– Only a very small number of people within the Ministry of Social Security have access to information about the camp.
– Information such as the accommodation and transportation of family members of camp staff is treated as “confidential.”
The camp was designated for political prisoners who criticized the policies of the ruling party in North Korea or leader Kim Jong Un, and most of them are serving life sentences.
The camp also includes prisoners serving sentences for religious activities, or for attempting to defect and flee to South Korea, and those who raised questions about government policy.
– Prisoners live in “extremely brutal and difficult” conditions.
– There are thousands of prisoners in the camp, and their number has increased significantly during the Covid-19 epidemic because they criticized the government’s policy in dealing with the outbreak of the virus.
The camp's focus is not on rehabilitating the inmates to return them to society, but rather on keeping them away from it.
According to a 2013 report by the Korea Institute for National Unification on political prison camps in North Korea, “Camp 17” was closed sometime around 1983.
The camp was reopened under orders from leader Kim Jong Un in November 2014.
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