Chungsan concentration camp (also spelled Jeungsan, Jungsan or Joongsan) is a reeducation camp in North Korea. Its official name is Kyo-hwa-so No. 11 (Reeducation camp no. 11).
Chungsan camp is a currently operational and well-maintained largely women's penitentiary as of 2020.[2]: 4 Encompassing approximately 11.9 km2 (4.61 mi2),[2]: 11 preliminary imagery analysis suggests a minimum of 1,500–2,500 are detained,[2]: 4 although the number is likely significantly higher with estimates projecting between 3,300[3] and 5,000 prisoners.[1] Since 1999 the camp is used to detain female defectors,[4] which account for 50–60% of the prisoners, while others are incarcerated for theft, prostitution, unauthorized trade, etc.[3] The camp's primary activities are pig breeding and agriculture with a much-smaller production of sea salt.[2]: 4 The camp is surrounded by fields, where the prisoners have to grow rice and corn[5] for delivery to the Ministry of Public Security.[1]
Human rights situation
The food rations are very small. According to a former prisoner, one third of the prisoners died from combinations of malnutrition, disease, and forced labor within a year.[1] This former prisoner reported that the prisoners were often beaten with iron bars, if they did not work hard enough.[1] She got very ill, because her wounds from the beatings got infected. Dead prisoners are buried in mass shallow graves on a nearby hill[4][6] referred to as “Flower Mountain,” (꽃동산) appropriately named because of its azaleas that bloom every spring.[2]: 141 Another former prisoner estimates that 5,000 deceased have been buried at Flower Mountain.[2]: 142
In interviews other former prisoners reported the following:
As of 2020, the facility consists of headquarters, at least fourteen detainee divisions, two to three miscellaneous support facilities, four Korean People's Army (KPA) bases, and the Sinsŏng-ri fishery station.[2]: 9 A satellite imagery analysis released by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea in December 2020 reveals no major changes to the overall physical boundaries of the camp;[2]: 145 however, individual detainee divisions have undergone notable updates or expansion from 2002 to 2019. Most of these reconfiguration projects include the construction of additional prisoner housing,[2]: 35, 59 livestock sheds,[2]: 67, 98 security walls,[2]: 50, 58 and guard towers,[2]: 74, 77 indicating efforts to increase agricultural output and accommodate a growing prisoner population.[2]: 145
Prisoners (witnesses)
Kim Miran (around 2002–2004 in Chungsan) was repatriated from China for illegal border-crossing.[11]
An unidentified former prisoner (female, 2004–2005 in Chungsan) gave testimony to HRNK about the camp. She was repatriated from China and imprisoned without a trial for illegal border crossing.[1]
Ten other unidentified former prisoners (all female) were interviewed by the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. Most of them do not want to be identified for fear that their relatives in North Korea are punished.[13]
^"6.2.3 Working facilities and production", Prisoners in North Korea Today(PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 384–386, archived from the original(PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
^"6.2.4 Solitary Confinement", Prisoners in North Korea Today(PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 391–395, archived from the original(PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
^"6.3.5 Life in Prison", Prisoners in North Korea Today(PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 407–413, archived from the original(PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
^"6.4.3 Security", Prisoners in North Korea Today(PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 431–436, archived from the original(PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
^"6.5.1 Public and Non-Public Executions", Prisoners in North Korea Today(PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 437–438, archived from the original(PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
^"6.5.3 Torture and Violence", Prisoners in North Korea Today(PDF), Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, July 15, 2011, pp. 440–444, archived from the original(PDF) on March 5, 2014, retrieved May 11, 2012
