N. Korea seen as expanding gulags: satellite imagery 
 
 By Lee Chi-dongWASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is expanding its main political prison camps, apparently due either to hikes in the number of prisoners or the consolidation of its facilities, a human rights group said here Monday.The findings came from joint research by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) and DigitalGlobe, a commercial earth image provider.An analysis of satellite photos of Camp No. 25 in the remote northeastern area of Chongjin-si showed that agricultural development, maintenance and construction activities have continued there, the HRNK said in a report."Between 2009 and 2010, the camp perimeter increased from approximately 3,710 meters to about 5,100 meters, a 37 percent expansion," it said. "During the same period, the camp size increased from approximately 580 square meters to about 1,000 square meters, a 72 percent increase."It added the number of guard posts has also sharply grown.The HRNK said the reasons for the expansion could include an intensified crackdown on attempted defectors, the purge of political dissidents after Kim Jong-un assumed power, and the consolidation of the nation's political prison camp system."It appears that North Korea's vast system of unlawful imprisonment may be undergoing an alteration involving the consolidation of some of its political prison camps, and the expansion of others,”Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the committee, said in a press release.If the dismantlement of some of North Korea's political prisoner camps and prisoner transfers to expanded facilities are in progress, he added, it is essential to ensure that the North Korean regime does not attempt to erase evidence of atrocities at the camps or execute the surviving prisoners.Multiple civic groups around the world estimate there are 150,000-200,000 political prisoners in North Korea.leechidong@gmail.com(END) ||||| A satellite image of Camp 25 in 2013.(Committee for Human Rights in North Korea) 
 
 New satellite images released this week by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea chronicle what it says is steady growth in a prison camp on the northeast coast. 
 
 Camp 25, one of dozens of gulags in North Korea, grew 72 percent between 2009 and 2010 alone, the report says. Between 2003 and 2013, the camp expanded to include several new buildings, agricultural fields and almost two dozen guards, the committee says. The camp is estimated to house about 5,000 prisoners. 
 
 As the Post’s Chico Harlan has reported, gulags are alive and well in North Korea -- despite official claims to the contrary: 
 
 Today Pyongyang operates six giant political prison camps as well as dozens of smaller facilities that emphasize “re-education” as well as pure labor. At all but one of those major gulags, prisoners stay for life and remain officially “missing” even after they die. Amnesty International estimates that the North holds roughly 200,000 people at these gulags — one in every 120 citizens. 
 
 In October, rumors spread that North Korea had shut down Camp 22, its largest labor camp. While that doesn’t appear to be true -- satellite photos show well-tended fields and piled coals -- HRNK theorizes that downsizing and consolidation at other facilities could explain the growth at Camp 25. A crackdown on would-be defectors and political opponents could also be behind the expansion. 
 
 In either case, it’s impossible to do more than guess at the reasons for Camp 25’s shifting borders. The gulags remain one of the most shadowy corners of the already secretive North Korea -- they only recently showed up on maps. And because most inmates are imprisoned for life, even to the second or third generation, few people have managed to share stories from inside the camp. 
 
 Shin Dong-hyuk was the first known escapee when he fled to South Korea in 2008. 
 
 “It is just a matter of time before Kim Jong Il thinks of this," Shin said in an interview with the Post, referring to video footage he’d seen of the Holocaust. "I hope that the United States, through pressure and persuasion, can convince Kim not to murder all those people in the camps." ||||| Pyongyang has denied the existence of kwanliso prison camps, where the UN says inmates have faced starvation, forced labor, torture and rape 
 
 New satellite images of North Korean prison camps have been released, showing the continued existence of political prison camps described by the United Nations as being used to perpetrate “unspeakable atrocities”. 
 
 North Korea’s government denies such camps exist, but new analysis from human rights groups shows several of these camps, also known as kwanliso, have been maintained and expanded since being the subject of the 2014 UN inquiry. 
 
 The UN commission found inmates had been subject to “deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape and the denial of reproductive rights” and estimated that “hundreds of thousands of political prisoners” had died in the camps in the past five decades. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest A reported crematorium at one of the camps is shown in the satellite images. Photograph: Amnesty International 
 
 Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), a Washington DC-based NGO, said on Tuesday: “This regime still relies on a vast network of unlawful imprisonment facilities in order to exercise coercion and control and punishment of its population.” 
 
 North Korean prison abuse sketches – in pictures Read more 
 
 It is estimated that between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners were detained in political prison camps in 2014. “The people held there do not have sentences, they are not given sentences. Most of them don’t know why they were sent there,” said Scarlatoiu. 
 
 Since the UN inquiry, there has been continued activity on agricultural fields and in industrial factories at the camps, according to an HRNK report on Camp 25 that analyzed satellite images and witness testimony from defectors. 
 
 The report, combined with other HRNK analyses, also reveals patterns in detention facility operations under Kim Jong-un, who became leader of North Korea after the death of his father in December 2011. 
 
 “Detention facilities close to the border of China have shut down. Inland facilities have expanded,” said Scarlatoiu. “Most importantly, thousands of people have disappeared in the process of being relocated away from the border.” 
 
 HRNK’s findings on Camp 25 were backed by an Amnesty International report released last week, which included satellite photos of Camp 25 and Camp 15 collected in May and August 2016. 
 
 Amnesty’s photos also showed the government has maintained these camps. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The images are consistent with Google Earth images from May showing agricultural work, Amnesty says. Photograph: Amnesty International 
 
 In the two years following the UN inquiry, the camps have added six new guard posts and upgraded a building housing a reported crematorium. These findings are consistent with Google Earth images from May which show people harvesting crops inside the prison perimeter, according to Amnesty. 
 
 Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty UK’s Director of Campaigns, said: “These images chronicle abuse on an industrial scale.” 
 
 In 2014, the UN commission, prompted by the inquiry findings, wrote to Kim to warn that he could face trial at the international criminal court (ICC) as leader of North Korea. 
 
 Kim has not faced the court, and diplomatic efforts have recently focused on the country’s attempt to build a nuclear warhead. 
 
 After North Korea conducted a powerful nuclear test in September, the UN security council met to discuss the potential for bilateral sanctions.
– North Korea's economy may not be growing, but one of its prison camps sure seems to be. New satellite photos show that Camp 25, thought to house about 5,000 of the 200,000 people believed to be held in North Korea's gulags, has grown steadily over the past decade, reports the Washington Post. Its perimeter grew 37% between just 2009 and 2010, according to the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, which says new buildings, guard posts, and fields have been added. Experts are unsure whether the expansion of Camp 25 signals an overall growth in political prisoners in North Korea or a move to accommodate existing prisoners as other camps are downsized. "It appears that North Korea's vast system of unlawful imprisonment may be undergoing an alteration involving the consolidation of some of its political prison camps, and the expansion of others," said the executive director of the committee, according to Yonhap News.