Wednesday, April 30th, 2003
Soon Ok Lee’s Testimony Before the House International Relations Committee.
Soon Ok Lee, North Korean defector and survivor of North Korean political prisoner camps
House Committee on International Relations
My name is Lee Soon Ok and I defected from North Korea in February, 1994, with my son and I arrived in Seoul in December 1995. From 1987 through 1992 I was in the political prisoner camp of Kaechon. In addition to this statement, I would like to formally request that my additional written testimony be submitted into the record of this hearing.
Human rights are a universal criterion to measure and evaluate the political and social development of mankind. Today, human rights are most violated and least tolerated in North Korea, a blind spot of the world. Worst of all, the crimes against humanity that have been perpetuating in North Korea for decades have destroyed the humanity and personalities of all North Koreans. The personality cult of the leaders, the father and son, was the norm that came to replace respect for humanity. To achieve this purpose, the North Korean leadership operates secret concentration camps and prisons for political prisoners in at least 12 locations. Their goal is to eliminate all forms of opposition. Over 200,000 innocent victims, including women and children, are detained there for life without a judicial process. The secret concentration camps and all forms of prisons in North Korea are the sites of the worst crimes against humanity in the 21st century.
Some 6,000 prisoners were in the Kaechon Prison when I was imprisoned there for 7 years. All the prisoners were deprived of all forms of human dignity. From the moment of imprisonment, prisoners are treated as being lower than beasts. I experienced a living hell there during the seven years that I was there. The ordeal at that time was to such an extent that even today I am not sure whether I am alive or merely dreaming.
Kaechon Prison was one of the first prisons constructed by the North Korean regime for political offenders. As the economic situation rapidly deteriorated and food shortage became widespread in the 1980s, even petty commercial offences, such as buying or selling food in the black market, were treated as political crimes. Consequently, large numbers of innocent citizens were sent to prisons as political prisoners. Kaechon Prison was only for men until 1982. After 1982, the increase in the number of women arrested for trying to find daily provisions in the black market, or for traveling without an official "pass" to find food, made it necessary for the prison authorities to accommodate women prisoners in Kaechon Prison.
Some 2,000 housewives were serving prison terms in Kaechon Prison when I was there. The women were typical victims of the North Korean political system. They were arrested while trying to find food when the government discontinued food rations. The women’s appeals were considered an expression of political discontent and they were sentenced as political prisoners. Many of them did not have knowledge of the charges against them or what their sentences were. In prison, they found out for the first time that they had been given sentences of 10 or 15 year terms.
At Kaechon Prison, the prisoners were forced to work 16 to 18 hours daily without a moment of rest. They were only allowed to use the toilet 3 times a day at fixed times. 100 grams of poor quality corn per meal was the standard meal and often this was even further reduced to 80 or 30 grams per meal for any poor job performance or if a prisoner failed to meet the daily labor quota. As a result of these small and inadequate meals, long and hard work and lack of exposure to the sun, all the prisoners suffered from malnutrition and all kinds of diseases. We were allowed to sleep for only 3 to 4 hours daily. Our cells were about 6 by 5 meters and contained 80 to 90 prisoners per cell. The cells were so crowded that the prisoners slept with the feet of the next prisoner right under their noses. There is only one window in each cell and it was like being in a steam bath in the summer days. In the winter, the cell was not heated so it was very cold with icy winds coming through the cracks of the floor and the window.
The prisoners are not allowed to talk to one another or to sing and were ordered by the guards to answer their questions only. The punishment is very severe for violating any prison rule. The punishment cell is most dreaded by prisoners. It is 0.6 by 0.7 meters and 1 meter high; literally a pigeon hole. Prisoners are stripped to the skin in the punishment cell. This is why the prisoners called the punishment cell "the killing chamber".
Pregnant women were unconditionally forced to abort because the unborn baby was also considered a criminal by law. Women in their 8th or 9th month of pregnancy had salt solutions injected into their wombs to induce abortion. In spite of these brutal efforts, some babies were born alive, in which case the prison guards mercilessly killed the infants by squeezing their necks in front of their mothers. The dead babies were taken away for biological tests. If a mother pleaded for the life of her baby, she was publicly executed under the charge of "impure ideology".
Human biological testing took place once or twice a year. I witnessed such tests. Some women prisoners were so hungry that they ate dirt and many died from this. In the labor factories, when there was a power outage, the women prisoners were forced to manually pull the motor belts of their sewing machines because the daily quota had to be met no matter what. Prisoners had to cleanse their crimes by working hard. The goal of the prisons is to work the prisoners slowly to their death through extremely hard work and inhumane prison conditions.
In Kaechon Prison there were many Christian prisoners. In North Korea, the North Korean leaders, Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il, are to be worshipped as living gods. Christians had to suffer all kinds of harsh and degrading treatment in Kaechon Prison for their belief.
I am asking the international community including the United States to please intervene in this situation as a matter of international responsibility, by asking the North Korean authorities, as a first step, to respect human rights and to close down their political prisoner camps. I believe that international intervention can help this situation by demanding that the North Korean regime respect the human rights and dignity of the North Korean people.
I have submitted additional written testimony documenting the horrible treatment of innocent people in the North Korean political prisoner camps, and I am also submitting a written memo about current information about North Korea to this Committee. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify, and I would be glad to answer any questions that you have.
Additional Written Testimony from Soon Ok Lee
Memo on current information from North Korea.
House Committee on International Relations
My name is Lee Soon Ok and I defected from North Korea in February, 1994, with my son and I arrived in Seoul in December 1995. From 1987 through 1992 I was in the political prisoner camp of Kaechon. I have submitted written testimony documenting the horrible treatment of innocent people in these camps including my own beatings and torture, but I also want to submit this memo about the current situation in North Korea.
In late 2002 and early 2003, Kim Jong-il instructed his top aides regarding policy toward the U.S. as follows:
a. The U.S. will kneel down if we continue to be aggressive. That is the nature of the U.S. We have the capability and resolve to corner the U.S. We have the nuclear warheads and the cruise missiles. Our cruise missiles can reach targets as far as 16,000 km. Our Special Forces number over 200,000, and our combat forces number over 2 million soldiers. We have 10,000 tons of bio-chemical weapons, and over 2,000 missiles. With these weapons, we can crush the U.S. Imperialists with one decisive strike.
b. We have to convert this crisis against the U.S. into an opportunity to unify our country (the Peninsula). This is the best time to unify our country. We have to change the timetable for unification earlier to the 60th Anniversary of the Republic. We have to press the U.S. until we secure a non-aggression agreement from them, and promote the unification through self-determination among the South Korean people. We have to make the South Korean government friendly first, and then win over the South Korean people by dividing the government and the people. If we isolate the government first and then attack them with resolve, we will win for sure. Unification can be easier than expected, but we have to plan carefully.
c. We have to persuade the South Korean entrepreneurs to invest in the Shin-Eui-Joo Special Economic Zone and the Kae-Sung Industrial Zone. We will have to build a solid economy for the Great Fatherland.
d. Roh-Dong Missiles #2 and #3 are ready for testing already. Roh-Dong Missile #4 is almost complete. We have to continue to test launch these missiles. We have to show the power of the Great Fatherland to the world. We have to scare the U.S. and put South Korea in fear. That is the surest way of liberating South Korea.
Kim Jong-il organized recently a new unit named Boh-Ahn-Boo (Security Bureau), and gave them the unlimited power to supervise the military, Boh-Wee-Boo (National Security Bureau), Ahn-Jon-Boo (Safety Bureau), and the Party. Boh-Ahn-Boo has power and free hand to arrest, imprison, and execute anybody. Therefore, even Boh-Wee-Boo is scared of Boh-Ahn-Boo now.
Around late February this year, General Cho Myung-rok, Chief of Political Bureau of the Armed Forces was taken in secret to somewhere, and was interrogated for one week. Since then, Cho Myung-rok visited China several times with the pretext of his personal health care. It is rumored that Kim Jong-Il does not trust Cho Myung-rok any longer.
On February 25th, Kim Jong-il ordered First Level Combat Readiness to his Army, and then in early March elevated the order to Special Level Combat Readiness. He closed the border and increased the security. He began to let the people cross the border, but everyone has to go through two to three inspections to cross the border.
It is much tougher to move inside North Korea also. Inspections of Permit to move are enforced more frequently and aggressively. Railroad cars still do not have electricity, and 7-8 hour delay is common. There are no windowpanes in the car, and people jump in and out of the car through windows.
Inflation has been out of control. Price for 1 kg of rice jumped from 50 Wons to 150 Wons. Price of one egg jumped from 10 Wons to 30 Wons. Price of one mackerel (fish) jumped to 300 Wons, while the price for one goat jumped from 1,500 Wons to 4,900 Wons. The government controls the farmers market, but people can buy goods at black market if one has money. The monthly wage was increased to 2,500 Wons, but nobody is getting paid. There is massive starvation because the government is using the humanitarian aid for the military.
The U.S. dollar escalated from 25,000 Wons for $100 to 75,000-80,000 Wons for $100. Even the Chinese currency escalated to 9,000 Wons for 100 Yuans.
Kim Jong-il regime tries to get the people ready for the possible war, but the people are concerned only about their food and survival.
China has become wary of North Korea, and beefed up their border security. They are cracking down on the NK refugees more aggressively, and also the Korean-Chinese who helped the refugees. Chinese government has arrested and repatriated many NK refugees.
Jilin Province branch office of the Chinese National Security Bureau set up an operation near the NK border to collect more information about North Korea. The Northeastern Command of the Chinese Liberation Army also set up an NK Information unit, and began to collect information about North Korea more intensively.
Chinese Customs increased the levy on the goods such as food and milk exported to North Korea to 40% of the purchase price. Therefore, very little food is going into North Korea.
