logo

The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps - HRNK

A prominent human rights investigator and advocate, David Hawk, and the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea compiled a full documentation of North Korean political prisoner camps. This report describes a number of penal institutions in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) administered by two different North Korean police agencies: the In-min-bo-an-seong (People’s Safety Agency) and the more political Kuk-ga-bo-wi-bu (National Security Agency). The report outlines two distinct systems of repression: first, a North Korean gulag of forced-labor colonies, camps, and prisons where scores of thousands of prisoners – some political, some convicted felons – are worked, many to their deaths, in mining, logging, farming, and industrial enterprises, often in remote valleys located in the mountainous areas of North Korea; and second, a system of smaller, shorter-term detention facilities along the North Korea-China border used to brutally punish North Koreans who flee to China – usually in search of food, in particular during the North Korean famine of the mid to late 1990s – but are arrested by Chinese law enforcement agents and forcibly repatriated to the DPRK.

Submission Success

Thank you. We will be in touch soon.

HRNK Logo

Internship Application

Successful applicants will undergo a formal interview process before being offered an internship. Applications will be processed on a rolling basis. We strongly recommend that applicants apply at least 3 months prior to their anticipated start date. Internships are typically unpaid, but academic credit is honored. A minimum commitment of 20 working hours per week is preferred. Please upload your documents in the .doc, .docx, or .pdf format.