high and 800 meters long, between the village for single offenders and the village for families. PPC No. 13 was relatively close to China and mainstream North Korean society. The distance from Chongsong Village was about 10 minutes by car. There were checkpoints on all streets. In the political prisoners’ family village (Pungchon Sector), there is a building used for interviews by SSA staff which carried out the function of a sub-SSA station. Halfway up the mountain, there were cement batteries, 20 meters high and 30 meters in circumference. There were stores for guns and quarters for guards, surrounded by a bullet-proof wall inside. Between the batteries, there were four anti-aircraft machine guns.” (Ahn Myong-chul from Camps No.’s 11, 13 and 22) As above, PPC No. 13 had been a large-scale camp with approximately 500 SSA staff at the time it was dismantled in the early 1990’s. The external security regime was very tight because of its close proximity to both North Korean mainstream society and China. “The various work units were comprised of farms and factories and SSA officers were assigned to them. One SSA officer was given responsibility for three work units. For the purpose of the camp’s security, temporary guard posts (mobile posts) were located at intervals of 50 meters. I can’t be sure that there were guards at every guard post. A large guard facility was located at the entrance of the camp.” (Shin Dong-hyuk, former prisoner from Camp No. 14) Shin Dong-hyuk, who successfully escaped from PPC No. 14, has given us information on the security system inside the camp but was unable to provide much information about the security system outside the camp. His testimony reflects the peculiarity of the camp in which prisoners are restricted in their areas of work. “The barrack building we lived in was surrounded by a cement wall with barbed wire attached to the top of it. In the beginning, our living quarters were located relatively close to the main gate by car. The area was monitored by cameras. Among male prisoners, a system existed where prisoners monitored the movement of each other. In the case of female prisoners, a platoon chief was tasked with monitoring them. Generally, we were watched by SSA officers at the gate both day and night. They watched people coming in or going out during the daytime. Watches were set for possible defectors at night.” (A04, former prisoner from Sorimchon, PPC No. 15, 2002~2005) “SSA officers were responsible for maintaining control of the camp. The barbed wire near our living quarters was about two meters high. There were five or six lines of electrified wires with one carrying 220 volts in the middle. The lines of electrified wires were 80