05/10/2019 North Korea (International Christian Concern) – On Thursday, North Korea denied once again the existence of political prison camps in the country, during periodic UN rights council review.

In rare remarks delivered at the U.N. Human Rights Council, North Korean diplomats defended their country against the accusations coming from the West.

Pak Kwang Ho, head of Propaganda and Agitation Department head, said, “There are still some that persistently insist that political prison camps are operated in our country.” He added, “There is no such thing as a political prisoner, or a political prison camp, in the vocabulary of the criminal law and the criminal procedure law of the DPRK.”

North Korean ambassador Han Tae Song joined the defense and told the 47-member forum, “People’s rights to life and fundamental freedoms are fully ensured.”

The U.S., along with Britain, Canada and France, were not convinced. “The human rights situation in North Korea is deplorable and has no parallel in the modern world,” senior U.S. diplomat Mark Cassayre said. He called on Pyongyang to “immediately dismantle all political prison camps (and) release all political prisoners.”

An estimate between 80,000 to 120,000 people are put in political detention camps in North Korea, according to U.N. rights investigators. For merely possessing a Bible, to being related to individuals deemed to be a threat to the state, North Koreans can lose freedom easily. Also, torture and other violations are taking place inside that they say may amount to crimes against humanity.

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