THERE’S no hard labour, it’s relatively peaceful and those who live here get their meals delivered most days.

But the small village in the North Korean town of Hyanghari is definitely no luxury resort.

The town is a prison camp where Kim Jong-un sends family or members of the ruling elite who have become troublesome.

Anyone who is perceived as a threat to the Kim family rule is also sent here.

And while it hardly resembles life inside North Korea’s infamous political camps or gulags, there are still plenty of guards around to keep people in line and in fear, according to defectors.

While the town is 48km from the Chinese border, few attempt to escape due to fear of repercussions for other family members.

Former North Korea special forces member Lim Cheon-young, who defected in 2000, said those who are there, live relatively comfortable lives, The South China Morning Post reported.

“They are not forced to work in the fields or mines and they don’t have to produce their own food as meals are delivered to them every day,” he said.

“That’s why it is known as the resort.”

Lim who used to drink with Kim Sung-il (Kim Jong-il’s cousin) said the pair became friends during their time in the military.

He said his friend told him he was once summoned to Pyongyang by his cousin, Kim Jong-il who demanded he show his loyalty to him.

Kim Jong-il had manipulated the jailing of his cousin’s father, Kim Yong-ju, at the Hyanghari camp in 1975.

Kim Yong-ju, the younger brother of Kim Il-sung was widely seen in the early 1970s as the next likely successor but Kim Il-sung began to groom his son for the role. Kim Yong-ju was jailed but was later rehabilitated in the 1990s.

According to Lim his colleague’s mother had also been sent to jail, while his sister was ordered to marry an academic and was exiled to a remote part of the country.

Other detainees are believed to include Kim Song-ae, the second wife of Kim Il-sung and the mother of Kim Pyong-il, as well as Kim Jong-il’s half-brother.

Kim John-Un’s aunt is also understood to be at Hyanghari after her husband Jang Sung-thank was executed in 2013 for crimes against the state.

HISTORY OF PURGES

Purges have a long history in North Korea, as do executions of those who have been perceived to have done wrong against the Kims.

Kim Jong-un has removed key members of the old guard through a series of purges since taking over after the death of his father.

Most famously, Kim executed his uncle Jang Song Thaek, for alleged treason in 2013.

Jang was married to Kim Jong-il’s sister and was once considered the second most powerful man in North Korea.

According to the Associated Press, South Korea’s spy agency also claimed that Kim ordered his then-defence chief Hyon Yong Chol to be executed with an anti-aircraft gun for complaining about the young ruler, talking back to him and sleeping during a meeting last year.

Both are among 70 reported officials executed since Kim Jong-un became ruler in 2011.

— with AP