North Korea's Network Of Prison Camps Funds Weapons Programs, Rights Group Says - NPR

A South Korean human rights group has detailed how North Korea's extensive prison camps ultimately fund the nation's missile and nuclear programs.

A South Korean human rights group has detailed how North Korea's extensive prison camps ultimately fund the nation's missile and nuclear programs.

North Korea is using forced labor from its network of prison camps to mine coal and other minerals to boost exports and earn foreign currency, using the cash to support its nuclear weapons programs, according to a South Korean human rights group.

A report by the Seoul-based Citizens' Alliance for North Korea Human Rights said an intricate network of government ministries and other entities relies on prison labor and other illicit operations to bring in money to the isolated Asian country.

Satellite images and testimony from witnesses shed light on North Korea's expansion of its prison camp network to overlap with the location of several mines, according to the report, which is titled "Blood Coal Export from North Korea: Pyramid scheme of earnings maintaining structures of power.".

The country exports goods using "a shady network of foreign trading partners," in China, Myanmar, and Russia, who often receive North Korea's coal shipments produced by citizens in prisons, according to the report.

The total coal ore reserves in North Korea are estimated at 18.6 billion tons, and they're valued at more than $3.4 billion, the report stated.