“Two SSA officers worked in shifts at the SSA office of the Control Committee. But, with the exception of the SSA officers, the chairman of the committee and other workers were all prisoners. It was simply like that. There were many SSA officers but they were elsewhere and not many of them were seen at the work sites. I saw many SSA officers outside our sector. Taesuk-ni is situated most deeply inside the camp. At night, prisoner-guards visit us every hour and turn on the light to check the number of prisoners. There are five guards and they are well-treated.” (A10, former prisoner from Taesuk-ni No. 15, 1995~1998) “I reported to Work Unit No. 7 every morning. My report included the number of prisoners who reported for work that day and the number of children who went to school. There is an aide under the work unit chief. The aide does the work of a clerk. He makes sure that everyone is at work. If a prisoner is missing from the work site, the entire unit is mobilized to search for him and work does not resume until they find him.” (A11, former prisoner, from Ipsok-ni, PPC No. 15, 1976~1980) “The SSA sub-station is staffed by a section chief, party leader and SSA officers, each responsible for overseeing the work of four work units. The Camp Superintendent, Director of the Political Department or their deputies visited the office once or twice a month. The Control Committee was comprised of the chairperson, an inventory clerk, a junior level party secretary, chairperson of the employment union, a young workers committee chairperson and telephone operators. They have different offices and take daily instructions from the SSA sub-station to pass on to every work unit and report the feedback to the sub-station every day. Every work unit has a chief, a clerk and a dormitory dean. The dormitory dean is responsible for security and there are three other guards assisting the dormitory dean. All work is carried out in accordance with instruction from the Control Committee. All prisoners must obey the SSA officer unconditionally. There were three sub-platoons of six persons each in a platoon. A camp regulation stipulates that six persons in a subplatoon must act collectively at all times. None of the prisoners take the regulation seriously and they all keep moving for work at will. Prisoners proceed to the work site by company collectively, but they work at the site by platoons. Newcomers are accommodated at an orientation facility to be informed of camp rules and regulations and to recover from a state of undernourishment sustained during the prior investigations. They are given light work at the SSA sub-station, a greenhouse or a vegetable farm for a month. Normally, they learn the length of their detention terms through conversations with an SSA officer during this period and are coerced to swear that they will not speak to other prisoners about their career experience.” (A12, former prisoner, from Taesuk-ni, PPC No. 15 1994~1997) 86