Inmate executed for murdering guard at Jongori Correctional Labor Camp
An inmate at Hoeryong Jongori Correctional Labor camp was reportedly executed by firing squad for murdering a prison guard.
“An inmate was executed by firing squad on January 10 in front of the other inmates,” said a North Hamgyong Province-based source on January 15.
North Korea has recently conducted such executions out of the public eye possibly due to criticism it has received over human rights abuses from the international community. The death of a guard, however, likely led authorities to conduct the execution in public to ensure that order is maintained in the facility. Reeducation facilities are also typically cut off from the outside world, a factor that likely influenced their decision.
The correctional labor camp (which are also known as re-education camps) in Jongori is infamous for violence, acts of cruelty and excessive forced labor and is generally where repatriated defectors are sent after being sentenced to forced labor for “illegally crossing the border.” A drunk inmate reportedly murdered the guard for treating him cruelly on a regular basis, according to a separate source in North Hamgyong Province.
“The inmate drank alcohol he received as a New Year’s gift and used a rock to strike the head of a guard who had treated him cruelly. The inmate then stole the guard’s clothes and escaped through the facility’s front gate,” he said. .......
[Source: Daily NK]
