Gardner, Blackburn urge end to North Korean political prison labor camps

U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) recently cosponsored a resolution calling upon the leadership of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to dismantle its kwan-li-so political prison labor camp system.

“North Korea should feel the weight of the entire United States Congress on its shoulders,” said Sen. Blackburn. “The human rights abuses committed in labor camps under Kim Jung-un’s watch are unacceptable. I join my colleagues in the Senate in calling on North Korea to immediately cease these horrific practices and to put an end to its gulag system.”

Sens. Blackburn and Gardner on Aug. 1 cosponsored Senate Resolution (S.Res.) 303 with sponsor U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and nine other cosponsors, including lead cosponsor U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).

“North Korea is the world’s leading abuser of human rights, and their vast network of brutal labor camps is barbaric and an affront to humanity,” Sen. Gardner said. “The United States must maintain the maximum pressure campaign against the Kim regime, as called for by the Gardner-Markey Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, until North Korea fully denuclearizes and respects the rights of its people, including completely dismantling these shameful and truly inhumane facilities.”

According to S.Res. 303, the kwan-li-so are the country’s “most heinous camps,” which contain roughly 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners. From 1981 to 2013, an estimated 400,000 people out of 500,000 imprisoned were killed in these labor camps, the resolution states.

Additionally, S.Res. 303 notes instances of religious persecution, rape, forced abortions and brutal executions within the camps.

In the resolution, the senators also call upon the international community to join them in supporting an end to these labor camps and to create a special tribunal to investigate North Korea’s crimes against humanity, consider sanctions against those involved in these crimes, and ban imported goods made by North Korean prison laborers.