Prison camps · North Hamgyong Province
Prison · kyohwaso
Kyohwaso No. 12, Chongori
12호 전거리 교화소
Kyohwaso No. 12 at Chongori, Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, is the principal prison where North Koreans forcibly repatriated from China are sent. The UN Commission of Inquiry documented severe abuses, including routine torture, fatal beatings, forced abortions, and starvation. Activist Jihyun Park survived imprisonment here before escaping a second time.
~2,300prisonersHRNK estimate
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Social Securityrun by
Open on the intel map Puryong county How the camp system works
Why people end up here
Kyohwaso hold people sentenced through the regular courts. Sentences are set in years, but hunger, beatings and heavy labor kill many before release. Common charges:
- Illegal trading
- Smuggling across the border
- Watching foreign media
- Trying to escape to China
