North Korean labor camps imprison thousands

North Korean labor camps imprison thousands

PYONGYANG, North Korea — An estimated 80,000–120,000 political prisoners are being held in labor camps in North Korea, according to the U.S. State Department’s most recent International Religious Freedom Report. Many of those are being held for religious reasons.

“The government continued to deal harshly with those who engaged in almost any religious practices through executions, torture, beatings and arrests,” the report states.

A survey by the South Korea-based Database Center for North Korean Human Rights found that 99.6 percent of refugees said there was no religious freedom in the country.

The 2017 International Religious Freedom report is a congressionally mandated annual report describing the status of religious freedom in every country. (TAB)