It is a shocking estimate but it goes to show that the world cannot afford to look the other way. This means we need to keep up the pressure on the Chinese government (which has been propping up dictatorships such as Burma and North Korea) to stop these atrocities. Human rights NGOs and other states also need to place this on high priority in UN human rights conferences.
According to this blogger at Care2.com, there are 150 to 200 thousands of prisoners in North Korea’s concentration camps. For criticising the government or being a Christian, dissidents and their families are sent to these camps. While the secretive nature of the gulags prevent outsiders from visiting, satellite photographs fit the stories of those who escaped to tell their tale. Another news article noted that South Koreans are generally apathetic towards this issue.
- Read an account of a prisoner who escaped the prison in this IPS article, ‘RIGHTS: Ex-inmates Recount Ordeal in North Korean Prison’.
- Read an opinion piece on why the international community needs to focus on North Korea (but not just on the nuclear issue)
Tags: Human Rights, North Korea
Agree…The North Korean situation is more than a nuclear one…I mean, we have people consuming each other over there just to stay alive!