By Katherine Barraclough, Campaigner - East Asia Amnesty International
Imagine that two prisoners appear. Swollen and unrecognisable from torture. One so weak, you can see the bones through their skin.
Then the horrific realisation. These shadows of human beings are your mother and brother. Your mother is hung by the neck in front of you. Your brother executed by firing squad.
Imagine suffering 7 months of unspeakable torture, as Shin Dong-hyuk did. Then being dragged out into the harsh daylight of a public square and ordered to sit in the front row of seats to witness this horrific execution.
This is not Changi or Auschwitz. This is North Korea prison camp 14. And these horrific human rights abuses are happening to prisoners of conscience right now.
What's going on in North Korea is beyond belief.
As a campaigner for Amnesty International, I have been witness to some extraordinary cruelties, hardships and injustices. But nothing prepared me for the stories coming out of the prison camps in North Korea.
An estimated 200,000 people are imprisoned in the camps, 50,000 of them in political prison camp 15 (Yodok). People can be imprisoned for as little as listening to South Korean radio stations or for contacting family in other countries.
Under yeon jwa je (guilt by association), up to three generations of a family can be imprisoned without trial - simply because a mother, father, or grandparent offended the government.
Torture, starvation, child labour
Prisoners face extreme torture in the camps. They can be immersed in water with a plastic bag tied over their head. Or strung up as an `airplane' with their hands and feet tied behind them as they are beaten.
Starvation is common. A prison guard told Amnesty International that many inmates eat snakes or rats - whatever they can catch, just to survive. Shin felt `lucky' when he found some corn kernels in a pile of cow dung, eating them quickly before he was caught and punished.
Children as young as 12 are taken away from their parents and forced to work often dangerous, heavy labour. They face daily beatings, and are sometimes killed by unsafe working conditions.
This merciless treatment is nothing new. The camps have been around since before Amnesty International began. Yet Kim Jong-il and the North Korean government have repeatedly denied their existence.
We have proof the camps exist. They cannot be denied.
Earlier this year, Amnesty International released new satellite images of four of North Korea's notorious political prison camps, including Yodok and Camp 14, which each have a population of 50,000 or more.
We also have the testimonies of former detainees from Yodok and camps 14 and 18. The evidence is undeniable.
In the name of humanity, we demand that the North Korean government acknowledge the existence of the camps, immediately close them and release all prisoners of conscience.
Amnesty International has launched a global urgent action on behalf of the prisoners in North Korea. All over the world, Amnesty International friends and supporters are standing together to help get the message through to Chairman Kim Jong-II and his heir apparent, Jong-on.
Jong-on will be the third generation of one ruling family that have facilitated, yet denied, the existence of these camps.
The world is watching. The torture, unjust imprisonment and human rights abuses must stop now.
Allowing camps like this to exist is unacceptable. The torture, abuse and deaths must stop. Action is desperately needed to bring these camps to an end.
Amnesty International - with your help - will demand that North Korea acknowledge the existence of these camps, then close them and release all prisoners of conscience. Your support is vital.
Please make a gift of $25 – or whatever you can - today, to help end the suffering in North Korea and support our human rights work around the world. Your support can help increase our impact.
