DEFIANT INMATES EXECUTED AT NORTH KOREAN CAMPS

North Korea’s prison camps hold about 300,000 people and the authorities conduct annual mass executions of inmates seen as defiant, a new group formed by defectors said. The group added that the number of inmates has swollen recently, reflecting “growing political instability” in the hardline communist regime. The United States State Department’s report last year on human rights said 150,000 to 200,000 people were being held in political prison camps in remote areas. Torture and sexual violence are rampant at the camps, said Mr An Myong Chul, 40, a former camp guard who defected to South Korea 10 years ago. “Every year at around this time, North Korea executes up to 20 inmates at each camp,” he said at a ceremony to launch a group called the Campaign For North Korean Freedom. “As a guard, I was trained to kill all the inmates in an emergency. Inmates are subjected to forced labour until their death,” he said.