The U.S. government has recently passed a new act that will authorize the CIA to begin digging deeper into the situation within North Korea’s notorious penal labor camps. SBS and RFA reported that this new Intelligence Authorization Act will allow U.S. intelligence to construct a new database regarding what exactly goes on within these mysterious facilities.
This new act is the U.S. government’s response to the United Nations’ Commission of Inquiry (COI) which announced that North Korea’s government may be actively violating the most basic human rights of its citizens. The inquiry was made up primarily of testimonies by defectors who delivered eyewitness accounts of the concentration camps. However, North Korean representatives denied such accusations stating that the report was based on false testimony by the defectors.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are reported to have passed the Intelligence authorization Act, which requires U.S. intelligence to thoroughly report on their findings regarding North Korea’s most notorious modes of oppression. All those who report back are required to give details on the size of individual camps, the number of prisoners, the reasons for their imprisonment, what kinds of products are manufactured at these labor camps and also information regarding the consumers of these goods.
They will also be investigating whether the prisoners are being treated appropriately, how they are fed, the existence of medical services and whether they are receiving unjust treatment. Intelligence may include photo images of their findings in their reports while not revealing the identities of the prisoners.
The Congress has also requested that intelligence also find out whether there are other nations or governments that are either directly or indirectly involved in the running of these facilities. If there are, then intelligence will be asked to research who are these individuals or organizations who are aligned with North Korea’s policies of terror.
This is the first time that the U.S. government had launched an administrative movement regarding North Korea’s use of its penal labor camps, and North Korea will continue to be pressured by both the U.S. and the international community to make changes to its policies. According to RFA, Tom Malinowski, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor had already begun research and investigation of North Korea’s Camp Number 15.
The North Korean government began to heavily criticize the U.S. that they do not take the rights of its own citizens very seriously either, pointing to the Ferguson riots and the recent uncovering of controversial C.I.A. documents.
