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A prisoner is set free from a camp of no return… Does this signal a shift in policy?

Kang Jae-jun
Security officers handcuff teenagers caught watching South Korean dramas and movies. [Photo/ NK Times]

The release of a woman from a “total control zone” labor camp, where prisoners are normally held until they die, has set her neighborhood buzzing and prompted analysts to speculate that a change of policy towards long-term offenders may be in the works. 

The woman was accused of espionage in 2015 and held for ten years in Camp 25 in Chongjin, the capital of North Hamgyong Province. She was recently allowed to return to her home in the city. 

Camp 25 is known as a total control zone. This type of prison is distinct from the “revolutionizing zones” where offenders are re-educated through labor and expected to return to society after serving their sentences.

The camp was built in 1968. Human rights groups say it may hold up to 5,000 inmates. Prisoners are sent there for political and religious offenses. They have their citizen registration revoked and therefore no longer officially exist. Thus they  may be sentenced without a trial and can never expect to be set free.

According to a source contacted in the province on April 21, Kim, who is in her 50s, used to travel regularly between Hoeryong and Musan delivering money to the families of defectors. She was arrested in 2014 by the Ministry of State Security in Chongjin. After six months of interrogation, she was found guilty of espionage in early 2015.

Since coming home, Kim has remained silent about the reason for her release, the source said. Given she was released ten years after being sentenced, it is possible that she had a limited term. 

For now, the circumstances remain unknown. But what is apparent is that the news has caused a major stir in her neighborhood.

“We can’t know exactly why or how she was released, but this has given hope to people who have family members in a similar situation,” said a Chongjin resident in a phone interview., 

“Political prison camps are known as places where you ‘can’t leave even in death,’ so the mere fact that someone has returned alive is itself a shock,” the source said.

“Over the past ten years, many people have been sent to camps for espionage just because they communicated with the outside world,” another resident said. “Now that word is spreading that someone has been released from there, even people who had given up are saying, ‘This isn’t the time to just sit back, I need to act.’”

“Many thought that once you enter a political prison camp, you could never come out, but this event is slowly changing public perception,” he said. “This could also have a considerable social impact.”

This case is being interpreted as a possible signal that North Korean authorities are showing some flexibility in the management of political prisoners.

“Political prison camps have been a core tool for maintaining the regime’s control, and returning to society after entering one was almost impossible,” one expert said. “This case can be seen as an example of authorities attempting a partial change in their approach to political prisoner management.”

It is still unclear whether this is a reflection of North Korea responding to international criticism on human rights and shifting policy, or simply a temporary measure for internal political reasons. 

However, attention is now focused on whether this case will lead to broader changes.

Kang Jae-jun
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