Dozens of North Korean prisoners have starved to death in labor camps after Kim Jong Un’s strict Covid rules prevented them from getting food.
Kaechon Prison in South Pyongan province provides inmates with food, but it’s not enough.
Because the prisoners have to do hard labor every day. Survival in the camp depends on their families bringing them extra food when they visit.
A major outbreak of the virus led North Korea to declare a “national maximum emergency” in May.
According to Radio Free Asia, families living far from the prison were unable to visit the prison during the emergency.
This led to an increase in cases of malnutrition among inmates. It resulted in the deaths of 20 women.
Kaechon Prison in South Pyongan province provides inmates with food, but it’s not enough. Because the prisoners have to do hard labor every day. Survival in the camp depends on their families bringing them extra food when they visit. If not, many will starve. Pictured: A female soldier at a barbed wire fence around a camp (file image)
A source told RFA: “Last week I visited my sister in Kaechon prison and she told me that 20 female prisoners have died from malnutrition and hard labour.”
The source added that before the pandemic, three or four prisoners were dying every month.
And they explained that their younger sister is serving five years in prison for talking on the phone to a family member who fled the country and settled in South Korea.
They added: “There are still about 50 prisoners in the women’s prison who have been diagnosed with malnutrition and have been isolated in a group of sick inmates. You can neither stand up nor sit down. They seem to be waiting as if dying.”
The source explained that when a death occurs, the guards’ job is to enter the prison and stack the bodies to one side.
Then, at the end of each month, prisoners have to transport the bodies on a stretcher to bury them in the mountains behind the prison.
The prison only provides inmates with a single rice ball each day, not enough to survive on it alone.
The prison only provides the inmates with a single rice ball each day, which is not enough to survive on it alone, and they need extra food from their families. Pictured: Prisoners at a North Korean prison camp in Sinuiju
Elsewhere, prisoners at Chungsan Prison in Ryanggang are allowed to receive family visits every three months.
Also due to Covid measures, movement was restricted and those closer to the prison were able to feed their families, but those further away were not.
People in places like Ryanggang province can only bring groceries once every six months using Servi-Cha trucks, or vans, which are privately owned and used to send goods or people to places that cannot be reached by trains .
Because of this, some people in Chungsan Prison have not received food from families during the pandemic.
This means that in the past month alone, 15 women have died from malnutrition due to a lack of outside nourishment.
The second source explained that when an inmate dies in Chungsan Prison, the prison calls the police in the inmate’s hometown and asks them to return the body to the family.
But because of COVID, families have been asked to take responsibility for the body. Corpses at Chungsan Prison are rolled into straw sacks and buried around the prison if the family does not arrive on time.
The rules for prison camps had relaxed slightly after international criticism in 2015. But because of COVID, they’ve been tightened again. Pictured: A North Korean prison police officer guards behind fences a prison on the banks of the Yalu River near North Korea’s Chongsong County (file image)
The second source explained that in 2015 North Korea began punishing officers in prisons where many inmates died, due to international criticism for its treatment of prisoners.
After that, the rules became a little looser. Families are allowed to visit every month instead of three months.
And 10 percent of food brought in must be shared with inmates, so those without visitors can get extra.
However, due to the pandemic, the rules changed again and visits were limited to once every three months.
The second source explained that malnutrition was increasing because less food was coming in.
It has been claimed by both sources that the authorities are trying to cover up rather than stop the deaths from malnutrition.
Sources have claimed that authorities are trying to cover up the malnutrition deaths rather than stop them. Pictured: A camp in Chongori North Hamgyong province (file image)
It comes after North Korea claimed victory against the coronavirus and ended the maximum emergency order on August 10.
They said the country is completely virus-free, but that’s not true as suspected cases continue to be reported to quarantine centers.
RFA has been told by a source that anyone in South Pyongan with a high temperature above 37 degrees must be segregated and quarantined.
She explained that those quarantined at Anju Hotel are required to gargle with salt water three times a day for seven to 15 days and receive two fever reducers a day.
The quarantined people cannot be released until the symptoms have disappeared.
Elsewhere, in Songchongang, 200 people with a fever are being quarantined. Doctors have to check the body temperature of each resident every morning.
People with a body temperature of 37 degrees or more must be registered.
And they dismissed the government’s statement that North Korea was virus-free as “false propaganda.”
