Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 97115 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ETRD EAGR ETTC EAID ECON EFIN ECIN EINV ELAB EAIR ENRG EPET EWWT ECPS EIND EMIN ELTN EC ETMIN EUC EZ ET ELECTIONS ENVR EU EUN EG EINT ER ECONOMICS ES EMS ENIV EEB EN ECE ECOSOC EK ENVIRONMENT EFIS EI EWT ENGRD ECPSN EXIM EIAD ERIN ECPC EDEV ENGY ECTRD EPA ESTH ECCT EINVECON ENGR ERTD EUR EAP EWWC ELTD EL EXIMOPIC EXTERNAL ETRDEC ESCAP ECO EGAD ELNT ECONOMIC ENV ETRN EIAR EUMEM ENRGPARMOTRASENVKGHGPGOVECONTSPLEAID EREL ECOM ECONETRDEAGRJA ETCC ETRG ECONOMY EMED ETR ENERG EITC EFINOECD EURM EENG ERA EXPORT ENRD ECONEINVETRDEFINELABETRDKTDBPGOVOPIC EGEN EBRD EVIN ETRAD ECOWAS EFTA ECONETRDBESPAR EGOVSY EPIN EID ECONENRG EDRC ESENV ETT EB ENER ELTNSNAR ECHEVARRIA ETRC EPIT EDUC ESA EFI ENRGY ESCI EE EAIDXMXAXBXFFR EETC ECIP EIAID EIVN EBEXP ESTN EING EGOV ETRA EPETEIND ELAN ETRDGK EAIDRW ETRDEINVECINPGOVCS EPEC ENVI ELN EAG EPCS EPRT EPTED ETRB EUM EAIDS EFIC EFINECONEAIDUNGAGM EAIDAR ESF EIDN ELAM EDU EV EAIDAF ECN EDA EXBS EINTECPS ENRGTRGYETRDBEXPBTIOSZ EPREL EAC EINVEFIN ETA EAGER EINDIR ECA ECLAC ELAP EITI EUCOM ECONEFINETRDPGOVEAGRPTERKTFNKCRMEAID EARG ELDIN EINVKSCA ENNP EFINECONCS EFINTS ECCP ETC EAIRASECCASCID EINN ETRP EAIDNI EFQ ECOQKPKO EGPHUM EBUD ECONEINVEFINPGOVIZ ENERGY ELB EINDETRD EMI ECONEFIN EIB EURN ETRDEINVTINTCS EIN EFIM ETIO ELAINE EMN EATO EWTR EIPR EINVETC ETTD ETDR EIQ ECONCS EPPD ENRGIZ EISL ESPINOSA ELEC EAIG ESLCO EUREM ENTG ERD EINVECONSENVCSJA EEPET EUNCH ECINECONCS ETRO ETRDECONWTOCS ECUN EFND EPECO EAIRECONRP ERGR ETRDPGOV ECPN ENRGMO EPWR EET EAIS EAGRE EDUARDO EAGRRP EAIDPHUMPRELUG EICN ECONQH EVN EGHG ELBR EINF EAIDHO EENV ETEX ERNG ED
KMDR KPAO KPKO KJUS KCRM KGHG KFRD KWMN KDEM KTFN KHIV KGIC KIDE KSCA KNNP KHUM KIPR KSUM KISL KIRF KCOR KRCM KPAL KWBG KN KS KOMC KSEP KFLU KPWR KTIA KSEO KMPI KHLS KICC KSTH KMCA KVPR KPRM KE KU KZ KFLO KSAF KTIP KTEX KBCT KOCI KOLY KOR KAWC KACT KUNR KTDB KSTC KLIG KSKN KNN KCFE KCIP KGHA KHDP KPOW KUNC KDRL KV KPREL KCRS KPOL KRVC KRIM KGIT KWIR KT KIRC KOMO KRFD KUWAIT KG KFIN KSCI KTFIN KFTN KGOV KPRV KSAC KGIV KCRIM KPIR KSOC KBIO KW KGLB KMWN KPO KFSC KSEAO KSTCPL KSI KPRP KREC KFPC KUNH KCSA KMRS KNDP KR KICCPUR KPPAO KCSY KTBT KCIS KNEP KFRDCVISCMGTCASCKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KNNB KGCC KINR KPOP KMFO KENV KNAR KVIR KDRG KDMR KFCE KNAO KDEN KGCN KICA KIMMITT KMCC KLFU KMSG KSEC KUM KCUL KMNP KSMT KCOM KOMCSG KSPR KPMI KRAD KIND KCRP KAUST KWAWC KTER KCHG KRDP KPAS KITA KTSC KPAOPREL KWGB KIRP KJUST KMIG KLAB KTFR KSEI KSTT KAPO KSTS KLSO KWNN KPOA KHSA KNPP KPAONZ KBTS KWWW KY KJRE KPAOKMDRKE KCRCM KSCS KWMNCI KESO KWUN KPLS KIIP KEDEM KPAOY KRIF KGICKS KREF KTRD KFRDSOCIRO KTAO KJU KWMNPHUMPRELKPAOZW KEN KO KNEI KEMR KKIV KEAI KWAC KRCIM KWCI KFIU KWIC KCORR KOMS KNNO KPAI KBWG KTTB KTBD KTIALG KILS KFEM KTDM KESS KNUC KPA KOMCCO KCEM KRCS KWBGSY KNPPIS KNNPMNUC KWN KERG KLTN KALM KCCP KSUMPHUM KREL KGH KLIP KTLA KAWK KWMM KVRP KVRC KAID KSLG KDEMK KX KIF KNPR KCFC KFTFN KTFM KPDD KCERS KMOC KDEMAF KMEPI KEMS KDRM KEPREL KBTR KEDU KNP KIRL KNNR KMPT KISLPINR KTPN KA KJUSTH KPIN KDEV KTDD KAKA KFRP KWNM KTSD KINL KJUSKUNR KWWMN KECF KWBC KPRO KVBL KOM KFRDKIRFCVISCMGTKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KEDM KFLD KLPM KRGY KNNF KICR KIFR KM KWMNCS KAWS KLAP KPAK KDDG KCGC KID KNSD KMPF KPFO KDP KCMR KRMS KNPT KNNNP KTIAPARM KDTB KNUP KPGOV KNAP KNNC KUK KSRE KREISLER KIVP KQ KTIAEUN KPALAOIS KRM KISLAO KWM KFLOA
PHUM PINR PTER PGOV PREL PREF PL PM PHSA PE PARM PINS PK PUNE PO PALESTINIAN PU PBTS PROP PTBS POL POLI PA PGOVZI POLMIL POLITICAL PARTIES POLM PD POLITICS POLICY PAS PMIL PINT PNAT PV PKO PPOL PERSONS PING PBIO PH PETR PARMS PRES PCON PETERS PRELBR PT PLAB PP PAK PDEM PKPA PSOCI PF PLO PTERM PJUS PSOE PELOSI PROPERTY PGOVPREL PARP PRL PNIR PHUMKPAL PG PREZ PGIC PBOV PAO PKK PROV PHSAK PHUMPREL PROTECTION PGOVBL PSI PRELPK PGOVENRG PUM PRELKPKO PATTY PSOC PRIVATIZATION PRELSP PGOVEAIDUKNOSWGMHUCANLLHFRSPITNZ PMIG PREC PAIGH PROG PSHA PARK PETER POG PHUS PPREL PS PTERPREL PRELPGOV POV PKPO PGOVECON POUS PGOVPRELPHUMPREFSMIGELABEAIDKCRMKWMN PWBG PMAR PREM PAR PNR PRELPGOVEAIDECONEINVBEXPSCULOIIPBTIO PARMIR PGOVGM PHUH PARTM PN PRE PTE PY POLUN PPEL PDOV PGOVSOCI PIRF PGOVPM PBST PRELEVU PGOR PBTSRU PRM PRELKPAOIZ PGVO PERL PGOC PAGR PMIN PHUMR PVIP PPD PGV PRAM PINL PKPAL PTERE PGOF PINO PHAS PODC PRHUM PHUMA PREO PPA PEPFAR PGO PRGOV PAC PRESL PORG PKFK PEPR PRELP PREFA PNG PGOVPHUMKPAO PRELECON PINOCHET PFOR PGOVLO PHUMBA PRELC PREK PHUME PHJM POLINT PGOVPZ PGOVKCRM PGOVE PHALANAGE PARTY PECON PEACE PROCESS PLN PRELSW PAHO PEDRO PRELA PASS PPAO PGPV PNUM PCUL PGGV PSA PGOVSMIGKCRMKWMNPHUMCVISKFRDCA PGIV PRFE POGOV PEL PBT PAMQ PINF PSEPC POSTS PHUMPGOV PVOV PHSAPREL PROLIFERATION PENA PRELTBIOBA PIN PRELL PGOVPTER PHAM PHYTRP PTEL PTERPGOV PHARM PROTESTS PRELAF PKBL PRELKPAO PKNP PARMP PHUML PFOV PERM PUOS PRELGOV PHUMPTER PARAGRAPH PERURENA PBTSEWWT PCI PETROL PINSO PINSCE PQL PEREZ PBS

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 06SEOUL2912, A REAL YODUK STORY

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #06SEOUL2912.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06SEOUL2912 2006-08-25 08:11 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Seoul
VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUL #2912/01 2370811
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 250811Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY SEOUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9895
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 6210
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1126
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 1983
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 7479
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 0259
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1206
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 3088
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/COMUSKOREA J5 SEOUL KOR
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//OSD/ISA/EAP//
UNCLAS SEOUL 002912 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC PASS CHA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PREF PGOV KS KN
SUBJECT: A REAL YODUK STORY 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) Twenty-six-year-old Kim Eun-cheol has a 
five-hundred-dollar cellphone, a gold bracelet on his left 
wrist, and angry scars on both knees from being tortured in 
the DPRK.  Kim was an inmate in North Korea's infamous Yoduk 
prison from 2000 until 2003 and is one of fewer than fifteen 
people known to have survived the camp and escaped North 
Korea to tell about it.  In an August 22 conversation with 
us, he reported on conditions in Yoduk, where he witnessed 
two summary executions, saw about five people die of 
starvation each month, and stole food from guard dogs in 
order to survive.  Kim's account is the most recent testimony 
regarding Yoduk No. 15 political prison camp.  This is the 
same camp that formed the basis for the musical, "A Yoduk 
Story," which will debut in Washington on September 21. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND ON YODUK 
------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Yoduk No. 15, located in South Hamgyeong Province, 
is one of five known political prison camps in the DPRK. 
(NOTE: The others are Kaechon No. 14; Hwasong No. 16; 
Hoeryong No. 22; and Chongjin No. 25.  The total population 
of these camps is believed to be between 150,000 to 200,000. 
END NOTE).  The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North 
Korea estimated in their 2003 report, "The Hidden Gulag," 
that there were about 33,000 inmates at Yoduk.  Other former 
inmates have reported that the camp has a "complete control" 
zone, which has about 30,000 inmates with life sentences and 
no hope of release, and a separate "revolutionary" zone, 
where inmates serve fixed terms.  The Hidden Gulag reported 
that there were only about 2,000 to 3,000 people in the 
revolutionary zone as of 1992.  According to the Korea 
Institute for National Unification (KINU)'s 2006 "White Paper 
on Human Rights in North Korea," inmates of the revolutionary 
zone consist mostly of Pyongyang's ex-elites and repatriates 
from Japan. 
 
FOILED ESCAPE FROM THE DPRK 
--------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Kim is from Musan City, which is just inside the 
Chinese border in North Hamgyeong Province.  Looking for 
food, Kim crossed into China in April 1999.  He met six other 
defectors in Yanji, the capital of Yanbian Korean Autonomous 
Prefecture, and joined them en route to the ROK.  In November 
1999, Russian guards arrested the seven crossing the 
Chinese-Russian border.  We understand that the arrests were 
reported on November 12 in the Japanese Sankei Shimbun 
newspaper.  NGOs were active in further publicizing the case 
by sending letters to Russian President Yeltsin, the UNHCR 
and Amnesty International.  Although the UNHCR recognized the 
group as refugees in December, the Russians turned the seven 
over to Chinese authorities on December 30.  Kim escaped 
Chinese custody and, after hiding in China for approximately 
ten days, returned to Musan.  The Chinese repatriated the 
other six to North Korea.  (NOTE:  The other six were Heo 
Yong-il, Bang Yong-soon, Lee Dong-myong, Jang Ho-yong, Kim 
Kwang-ho, and Kim Sung-il.  END NOTE.) 
 
TORTURED UNDER INTERROGATION 
---------------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) DPRK authorities caught Kim soon after he returned 
to the DPRK and imprisoned him for six months in an 
interrogation center near the border.  Kim said that during 
the first three months, his interrogators regularly tortured 
him.  For example, they forced Kim to crouch for long periods 
of time with a wooden pole placed behind his knees, clamped 
between his calves and thighs.  Demonstrating this position 
to us, Kim explained that booted guards would then stomp on 
top of his legs.  This crushed Kim's toes backwards, 
inflicted extreme pain to his legs, and hyperextended his 
knees.  Interrogators also forced Kim to kneel forward onto 
fire-heated iron plates, which were being used to heat the 
room.  Thick burn scars are still readily visible on Kim's 
knees. 
5. (SBU) According to Kim, repatriated North Koreans would 
normally be sentenced to six months of hard labor at a labor 
training camp and then released.  However, Kim's case was 
treated more seriously because, when in Russia, Kim had 
declined when North Korean diplomats tried to persuade him to 
return voluntarily to the DPRK.  Under interrogation, 
officials accused Kim of denouncing North Korea in a third 
country, an act that would normally result in a death 
sentence or life imprisonment.  Kim believed that he escaped 
this fate because his repatriation had attracted 
international attention.  Instead, authorities sentenced him 
to three years at Yoduk No. 15.  (NOTE: Several of our 
contacts in the NGO community questioned whether someone in 
Kim's position would in fact have been sentenced to death or 
life imprisonment.  END NOTE.) 
 
INCARCERATION IN YODUK 
---------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Kim entered Yoduk in June 2000.  He lived in a 
"village" called "guempri" that had a population of 200 to 
250 people.  New inmates were brought in quarterly.  The 
inmates lived in a large barracks-like structure with men 
sleeping on one wing and women sleeping on the other.  Unlike 
the old part of the camp, he said, inmates did not live in 
family units.  The compound was encircled by concentric 
fences of electrified barbed wire and protected by guards, 
guard dogs, and deputized inmates. 
 
7. (SBU) Most of the other inmates in Kim's village were 
former elites or party members.  At twenty, he was the 
youngest in the village and often kept to himself.  Kim said 
the others often teased him because of his low societal 
status compared to the others.  He took revenge by informing 
on them when they violated camp rules.  Kim's tormentors 
would then disappear for a few months and return "small as 
dogs, looking like skeletons."  Kim said he did not know what 
happened to these people when they were taken away.  (NOTE: 
In "Aquariums of Pyongyang," former Yoduk inmate Kang 
Chol-hwan wrote that prisoners who committed "the most 
trifling of offenses" would be sent to the "sweatbox (which) 
is one of the harshest punishments imaginable."  The sweatbox 
was "simply grisly: the privation of food; close confinement, 
crouching on one's knees, hands on thighs, unable to 
move...Hardly anyone exited the sweatbox on his own two 
feet."  END NOTE). 
 
8. (SBU) The inmates were generally responsible for their own 
clothing.  Kim knew he would be in for three years, so he 
prepared three years' worth of clothing when he entered. 
Sometimes clothing that was confiscated from smugglers at the 
border was distributed to the inmates.  Thus, you could not 
normally see South Korean blue jeans in North Korea, but you 
could in Yoduk, he said. 
 
HARD LABOR AND LITTLE FOOD 
-------------------------- 
 
9. (SBU) Yoduk is primarily a labor camp for political 
prisoners. Kim was first assigned to construction work, which 
involved building various living quarters and pigsties.  His 
normal routine was to wake at 3:30 am, work until 6:30, eat 
breakfast, work from 7:00 until noon, eat lunch, and then 
work until sunset, which in the summertime was around 21:00 
or 22:00.  People who did not meet their work quota or did a 
poor job would not receive food. 
 
10. (SBU) Regular food rations were barely life-sustaining. 
The diet consisted of corn kernels cut to resemble rice and 
"radish and salt soup."  Each person was entitled to 175 
grams (about three-quarters cup) of corn per meal for a total 
daily allowance of 525 grams.  Inmates were given extra food, 
even meat, on Kim Il-sung's and Kim Jung-il's birthdays. 
 
11. (SBU) Getting enough food was a constant struggle.  Kim 
said that in his village about four or five people died of 
starvation each month.  Each area in the camp was probably 
different, he said.  People who were not used to struggling 
to survive, such as many of the party elite with whom he was 
incarcerated, died.  Kim, meanwhile, had been accustomed to 
"getting by" and was able to adjust to camp life.  Kim said 
he stole food from guard dogs and confirmed that prisoners 
often ate insects, rodents and other creatures. 
 
12. (SBU) After several months working in construction, Kim 
was transferred to work in the work unit's kitchen.  This was 
good work that he received as a reward for working hard in 
construction.  He was one of three people responsible for 
preparing food, serving the other inmates, and cleaning the 
dishes.  Not only was this easier than outdoor labor, but he 
was able to obtain extra food for himself.  His tenure as a 
kitchen worker abruptly ended when he was caught passing 
extra food to his friends.  As punishment, guards sent Kim to 
work in the cornfields for several months, and then back to 
construction. 
 
PUBLIC EXECUTIONS 
----------------- 
 
13. (SBU) Kim said that two villagers tried to escape, one in 
2000 and another in 2003.  In both cases, about a week after 
capture, the guards called all of the villagers to witness a 
public "trial" and execution by firing squad.  When asked 
whether the other inmates had to desecrate the corpses, a 
practice described in other accounts of Yoduk, Kim said that 
the guards had abandoned that practice.  Kim also said that 
he was unaware of instances of infanticide.  According to 
Kim, international attention to human rights issues had 
caused central authority officers visit the camp and oversee 
the guards' behavior. 
 
FINAL RELEASE AND ESCAPE 
------------------------ 
 
14. (SBU) Kim left Yoduk in July 2003 after completing his 
three-year sentence.  He tried to escape North Korea again in 
August, but was caught after three days in China. 
Repatriated to North Korea, family members bribed guards to 
secure his release and forge documents to make it appear that 
he never left in August.  However, in January 2004, central 
party officials found that Kim's documents were fake and sent 
him to a labor-training camp.  He escaped to China after five 
months.  Kim's brother in the ROK arranged for Kim to escape 
through Vietnam to Cambodia, where he stayed for six months 
in a church safe house.  Kim then traveled through Thailand 
and arrived in the ROK in March 2006. 
 
ADJUSTING TO THE ROK 
-------------------- 
 
15. (SBU) Kim graduated from the Ministry of Unification's 
Hanawon program in July and recently moved into an apartment 
in Incheon.  Upon arriving in the ROK, Kim agreed to pay a 
broker 5,500 USD to get his girlfriend out of the DPRK.  The 
extraction was successful, and the girlfriend is currently in 
Hanawon.  Kim talks to her several times a day on his new "LG 
Chocolate" cellphone, which is available locally for about 
500 USD.  Kim used part of his resettlement allowance to pay 
for it.  Meanwhile, Kim is trying to decide what he wants to 
do with his life.  "Maybe I'll become a gymnast," he said. 
More on Kim's adjustment to life in the ROK will be reported 
septel. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
16. (SBU) Kim's account of Yoduk No. 15 is generally 
consistent with the testimony of other former inmates.  The 
daily struggle for food is a constant theme and the summary 
executions punctuate the barbarity of the camp.  However, 
Kim's depiction of starvation in Yoduk is worse than other 
accounts.  For example, Kim's statement that "four or five" 
people per month died from malnutrition in his village of 
200-250 people reflects a considerably higher death rate than 
depicted in Kang Chol-hwan's testimony.  In "The Hidden 
Gulag," Kang recounted that there were about 200 deaths 
annually in his village of 2,000 to 3,000.  In other aspects, 
however, Kim's account was more positive.  That he knew of no 
instances of infanticide or corpse mutilation can be 
considered a positive development. 
 
17. (SBU) Another notable aspect of Kim's account was his 
belief in the impact of international attention to human 
rights.  According to Kim, the publicity preceding his 
repatriation helped him escape a death or life sentence and 
resulted in mitigation of at least some of the camp's 
inhumane practices.  If he is correct, and international 
opinion is having a tangible impact on human rights within 
North Korea, Kim's account argues strongly in favor of more 
vigorous international advocacy for human rights in the DPRK. 
 However, we caution that Kim's opinion on this point appears 
to be based entirely on speculation. 
STANTON