North Korea’s Nuclear Tests and Camp 16

I had previously speculated that the proximity of Camp 16 to North Korea’s main nuclear test site was probably more than mere coincidence (you can see Google Earth images of both at this link; click the images).  The Chosun Ilbo has now published the first indirect evidence — really, a gathering of rumors — to support my speculation, despite the regime’s extraordinary secrecy:

How were even the locals kept in the dark? The terrain around Mt. Mantap in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province, where the second nuclear test took place, rises to 2,000 m above sea level and is largely virgin forest, like at Mt. Baekdu. Building a large underground nuclear test facility in such a forest would require enormous amounts of manpower and investment.

But it has been virtually impossible to find any North Korean citizens who said they were involved in constructing the nuclear testing facilities. The 1994 testimony of Ahn Myeong-cheol, who served as a guard at a camp for political prisoners in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, provides the only exception. Ahn said that from the early 1990s, young political prisoners from camps in Hoeryong, Jongsong, and Hwasong were taken to an underground construction site at Mt. Mantap and that he had always been curious about what the purpose was.

Mt. Mantap was a source of fear among the political prisoners. Once taken there, no one came back alive. Located just north of Mt. Mantap is the 16th political prisoners’ camp of Hwasong, notorious even in North Korea. Only the top class of political prisoners and their families are held here. According to rumor, Kim Chang-bok, a former chief of the People’s Armed Forces, and other top officials of the Workers’ Party met their end in Hwasong.

That the underground test site and the political prison camp are adjacent may be coincidental. But North Korean defectors are convinced that the underground nuclear test facilities were built using political prisoners. It is not a secret that North Korea has been employing political prisoners for dangerous construction work.

Hwang Jang-yeop, a former secretary of the Workers’ Party, testified that in the mid 1990s he witnessed the following event: Upon learning from the secretary of military supplies that dogs were to be used in the testing of newly developed weapons, Kim Jong-il ordered him to use humans; he would arrange for the use of political prisoners.

North Korean dissidents can expect to be treated worse than dogs by Kim Jong-il. The least popular major among the sciences in North Korea is said to be nuclear physics. Those who choose to major in the field have no choice but to move to Bungang District in Yongbyon for a life of confinement. Due to unprofessional management and lack of technology, residents there are often exposed to radioactive contamination and as a result suffer lingering illnesses, making the town a frightening place for scientists.

On completion of the first nuclear test and in preparation for the second, there would have been people sent to the test site, which was contaminated with radioactive material, and the choice would have been obvious: political prisoners. The truth will come to light when the Kim Jong-il regime collapses, but there is the possibility of horrible disasters happening in the test site in Kilju, even as we speak.  [Chosun Ilbo, Kang Chol Hwan]

For new readers, the Chosun Ilbo reporter is Kang Chol-Hwan, who was sent to Camp 15, a/k/a Yodok, with his entire family at age nine.  He survived, was released as an adult, escaped from North Korea, and later wrote a memoir of his life in the camp, “The Aquariums of Pyongyang.”