The government practices collective punishment, sending people to forced labor camps not only the offender but also his or her parents, husband or wife, children, and even children of children. These camps are famous for very low living conditions and very mean, unfair treatment, including extreme food shortages, little or no medical care, lack of proper housing and clothes, mistreatment and torture by guards, and worst of them all, executions. Forced labor at the Gwalliso often involves very hard physical labor such as mining, logging, and farming-based work, all done with basic and simple tools in dangerous and harsh conditions. Death rates in these camps are very high. North Korea has never admitted that these camps exist, but US and South Korean representatives guess some 200,000 people may be locked in a prison there.
The government practices collective punishment, sending people to forced labor camps not only the offender but also his or her parents, husband or wife, children, and even children of children. These camps are famous for very low living conditions and very mean, unfair treatment, including extreme food shortages, little or no medical care, lack of proper housing and clothes, mistreatment and torture by guards, and worst of them all, executions. Forced labor at the Gwalliso often involves very hard physical labor such as mining, logging, and farming-based work, all done with basic and simple tools in dangerous and harsh conditions. Death rates in these camps are very high. North Korea has never admitted that these camps exist, but US and South Korean representatives guess some 200,000 people may be locked in a prison there.