Kim Tae-hun, member of Lawyers Union for Human Rights & Unification in Korea(left) and North Korea defector Cho Chul-min.



By Ko Dong-hwan

Revelation of details regarding "secret executions" that went on in North Korea received public spotlight, according to Dong-A Ilbo.

On Aug. 12, Lawyers Union for Human Rights & Unification in Korea, together with Human Rights in North Korea from the U.S., held a press conference at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in Jung-gu, Seoul, to shed full light on suspicions that the secret executions persisted at a concentration camp in Hoeryeong-gun, North Hamgyeong Province in North Korea, also known as "Prison No.12."

The description was delivered by North Korea defector Cho Chul-min (alias, 55).

Cho, who was originally sentenced to serve at the prison for nine years in July 1997, became chief of an inmate labor group the following year.

In May 1998, assistant director and security advisor of the prison approached him and, showing him a letter of directives written by then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that ordered "cleansing of inmates who are moral hazards," made him leave a thumb print as a sign of agreement to keeping the order undisclosed.

Each secret execution began at around 1 a.m. when the warden called names on the execution list one at a time. The inmate was seated, and beside him were two guards holding a wooden stake attached to a chain at center.

The assistant director began to break the inmate's mental by decrying him based on the list of charges. Afterwards, two guards wound the chain around his neck and strangled him to death by pulling the stakes.

Cho was in charge of removing bodies of corpses from the site.

Cho also said that another form of execution was roping accused inmate's head to the tail of the director's Jeep and dragging him till he expired, which happened often.