Prison Camps · North Hamgyong Province · Kyohwaso
Kyohwaso No. 12, Chongori (12호 전거리 교화소)
Prison (kyohwaso)
Operating~2,300 estimated prisonersOperated by: Ministry of Social Security
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.
System Context & Human Rights Documentation
Correctional re-education facilities (kyohwaso) like Kyohwaso No. 12, Chongori house individuals sentenced through the formal criminal system for offenses including illegal economic activity, cross-border smuggling, viewing foreign media, or attempting to escape into China. While sentences are nominally for a set number of years, severe malnutrition, physical beatings, and grueling manual labor result in high prisoner mortality rates.