World

Laura Ling & Euna Lee: North Korea Prison Camps

by Jordan Yerman | June 8, 2009 at 08:43 am

2027 views | 39 Recommendations | 7 comments

Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to twelve years' hard labor in a North Korean labor camp earlier today. The reason for the sentencing, unusually harsh for such cases, was due to their "grave crime against the Korean nation", but aside from illegally entering the country, no further detail was made public.

The US has no formal diplomatic ties with North Korea, and even in normal situations, the US Consulate does not step in if a US citizen is arrested for breaking local laws.

This case, though, has made headlines around the world. Laura's sister, Lisa Ling, who used to co-host The View, has kept a brave face for the public eye so far, even as support for state intervention grows via the Internet. Ling and Lee worked for Current TV, which was founded by Al Gore; White House officials are considering sending either Gore or New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (a former UN ambassador and envoy to North Korea) to Pyongyang to negotiate for the reporters' release.

What, though, does a sentence of "hard labor" mean in North Korea? The prospect is grim once one looks more closely at this element of that nation's penal system. The prison camps (kwan si lo) are described by former detainees as brutal detention centers where prisoners work long, back-breaking days with very little food, and are often sent there without trial.

Many of the kwan-li-so involve mining for coal, iron deposits, gold, or various other ores, or logging and wood-cutting in the adjacent mountains. Prisoners undertake farm labor during planting and harvesting seasons. This back-breaking labor is often performed twelve or more hours per day, seven days per week, with time off only for national holidays (such as New Year’s Day and Kim Il Sung’s and Kim Jong Il’s birthdays, for example).

The U.S. government and human rights groups estimate that 150,000 to 200,000 people are now being held in the North's prison camps. Many of the camps can be seen in satellite images, but North Korea denies their existence.

Once in jail, the conditions rival that of the worst Soviet gulags. Former prisoners have described their initial shock at seeing walking skeletons with matted hair, clad only in rags. They soon discovered why: In the gulag, starvation is used as method of control. Guards use food deprivation to force prisoners to inform on one another and to coerce sex from women.

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Uwe Paschen

at 11:41 on June 8th, 2009

How can we expect individuals to behave like grown up civilized people when we can not manage for countries to do the same? or was that the other way around, makes one wonder... What has to come first.

A. Tran

at 20:05 on June 8th, 2009

Several political analysts have mentioned that North Korea will use the two journalists to leverage their demands from the United States because sending the two women to their labor camp would be useless to NK's negotiations with the US.

The New York Times has the following assessments:

President Obama and his top national security aides on Monday urged North Korea to release “on humanitarian grounds” two American journalists sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for entering North Korean territory. But administration officials said that the harsh sentences were likely to be used as a negotiating ploy by the North as it tries to avoid new sanctions in response to its nuclear test two weeks ago.

American officials said they feared that any discussions with the North about the release of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee could get caught up in the Byzantine politics of succession in the North Korean capital. In recent weeks, there have been numerous reports that the leader, Kim Jong-il, has settled on his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor, a step that the North Korean military and China, North Korea’s reluctant patron, are believed to oppose.

L-S (not verified)

at 20:12 on June 8th, 2009

This sentence is an outrage, especially coming on top of the nuke test and missile testing. Ships are being preventing from entering the test area of the Japan Sea/Yellow Sea.

So far, no foreigners have been sent to a labor concentration camp but if they are, they face a life of starvation, extreme heat and cold, torture and multiple rapes.

Of the many Koreans who are sent to these camps, many never return.

It's time for some strong action, especially from the Chinese who are probably the only country who can do anything, but how does America pressurize China when they are in hock to the Chinese for trillions of dollars?

Roberto Alvarez-Galloso

at 05:55 on June 9th, 2009

jordan, thanks for your article. The Swedish Embasy in North Korea represents the interests of US Citizens in that country.

RUSS ELLIS (not verified)

at 17:04 on June 20th, 2009

THE CONVICTION OF EUNA LEE AND LAURA LING TO A 12 YEAR SENTENCE IN A HARD LABOR PRISON. NEVER WOULD OF HAPPENED IF A REPUBLICAN WAS SITTING IN THE WHITE HOUSE. OBABA IS WEAK HE'S A PUSSY THAT CAN'T STAND UP TO ANY COUNTRY

LAS (not verified)

at 22:29 on July 19th, 2009

It never would've happened if they had not put themselves in the position for it to happen, not that I agree w/North Koreas methods. Blaming any of this on our President is a typical Republican response and why our country elected a Democrat who does'nt feel the need to call names. Running our country is finally taking priority over vacations-unlike our former President who spent more time on vacation than any other President in history and it takes a Democrat to clean up the mess he created. Wake up and deal w/the fact that North Koreans will not be told what to do by anyone: Republican or Democrat. It's also time to Grow up and accept that the best man won-get over it. Hope the best for the the journalists.