New satellite photos published by a
group investigating the human rights abuses in North Korea have confirmed that
secret prisons where detainees are tortured, raped and murdered are expanding
in terms of size.
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said the photos it obtained, with the help of
AllSource Analysis, a leading global provider of high-resolution Earth imagery
solutions, affirmed previous fears that North Korea's infamous Camp No. 25,
believed to be keeping around 5,000 political prisoners, is growing.
As
the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea
explained, political prisoners in Camp No. 25 and other such camps are among
the "primary targets of a systematic and widespread attack" by the
regime of Kim Jong Un.
In
these prisons, people are subjected to "murder, enslavement, torture,
imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on
political grounds, and the enforced disappearance of persons," according
to the commission.
While
the identities of the prisoners in that particular camp are not known, several
persecution watchdog groups, including Open Doors USA, have long been
documenting the intense persecution religious minorities face in the country,
particularly Christians.
"Getting information out of
North Korea is notoriously difficult. That is what makes the fact that it
remains number one on the World Watch List even more amazing. We don't even
know how many Christians have been martyred in North Korea. Yet, it remains at
the top. That's because it uses all of the powers of its government to suppress
Christian faith, to punish even the most basic of things such as owning a
Bible," Open Doors CEO David Curry told The Christian Post in January.
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