Kim Jong Un uses a brutal prison network to enforce control over North Korea, and the repressive regime is expanding on these networks, referred to as "re-education" camps, according to a report by the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
The re-education camps are meant to resemble normal judicial processes but see prisoners incarcerated and brutalised for activities not considered criminal in other countries, according to the report.
"Behavior that is normal anywhere in the world is criminalized in North Korea," Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of HRNK, told Newsweek. "This is one of the primary tools the regime employs to control the people."
Prisoners are said to work under dangerous and brutal conditions, with little food and water and limited or no medical treatment. There is a reported high death rate in detention and burial is offensive and culturally improper. There are about 70,000 prisoners in these camps, which feature widespread wrongful imprisonment.
Kim has notoriously used fear as a way to gain control over North Korea since he rose to power in 2011.
Earlier this year The New York Post reported a number of "criminals" were gunned down in public areas such as schoolyards and fish markets as a way of instilling dread among citizens.
A report documenting the incident, which was released by the Transnational Justice Working Group in Seoul, stated that "the North Korean regime has long employed the most brutal means of abuse to control its population and retain its grip on power."
Although Kim’s regime denies any abuse of human rights, a recent United Nations commission report found North Korea in violation of numerous human rights acts.
The report noted that, among the violations to be investigated "are those pertaining to the right to food, those associated with prison camps, torture and inhuman treatment, arbitrary detention, discrimination, freedom of expression, the right to life, freedom of movement, and enforced disappearances, including in the form of abductions of nationals of other States."
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