Hidden Prison Camps in North Korea on the Rise

The number of people locked up in concentration camps inside North Korea may be as high as 1 million, reported Open Doors USA, an international ministry that supports persecuted Christians in 45 countries. “Many camps are so large that they are not recognized as camps on satellite photos,” said an Open Doors official familiar with the situation in North Korea, but for security reasons could not be identified. “They consist of entire villages,” he said. Based on contact with numerous underground networks, he estimated North Korea has between 250,000 and 500,000 underground Christians and that at least a quarter of them are imprisoned for their faith. Meanwhile, in its latest report, the U.S. State Department said North Korea’s “human rights record remained poor … [with] numerous serious abuses.”