Professor Alleges North Korean Plan to Destroy Gulags With Dams

Yonsei University Professor Hong Seong-Phil, quoted in The Korea Times, alleges that “dams are under construction near six gulags in North Korea to destroy evidence of possible genocide there.” I’ve heard this theory repeated for a number of years, but I don’t happen to believe it. Maybe there’s new imagery that Google Earth does has not yet published to support this theory, but I sure don’t see the evidence for it yet.

Furthermore, the theory doesn’t sound plausible to me. First, most of the camps, to specifically include Camp 15, lie along fairly small rivers that couldn’t build large reservoirs, and in any event, the camps are too large and spread-out to be washed away in one fell swoop. Most of Camp 15’s facilities are flood-prone, however, and do lie along a narrow mountain valley. There is a small reservoir upstream from them, although again, this couldn’t possibly wash the entire camp away.

Camps 16 and 22 do not lie along rivers of significant size. The place I believe to be Camp 25 lies along a small river, but it’s directly upstream from Chongjin. It’s unlikely that the camp — which appears to have concrete walls and guard towers — would be destroyed by a flood, and a flood in that location would also destroy downtown Chongjin.

Camps 14 and 18 are the only two of the five largest camps that lie along a large river, the Taedonggang, but the only large dam upstream from those camps, if breached, would also wash away several sizable towns and one of North Korea’s largest functioning thermal power plants. There is one water project directly upstream from the camps, but it appears to be a big dig to cut off an oxbow bend, and it was completed three years ago. And of course, if Camps 14 and 18 were flooded, that same surge of water would hit Pyongyang within hours.

Again, maybe there’s more recent evidence for this theory that supports it. I’m just not convinced.