Details drawn from testimonies regarding the internal system of disciplinary punishment at PPC are as follows: “If an SSA officer is found to have engaged in sexual relations with a political prisoner, the SSA officer concerned is discharged from service and the political prisoner involved is executed. In 1992, an SSA officer, by the name of Choi Chol-su, in charge of the Work Unit 3 at Sawul Sector, was discovered to have had sexual relations with a political prisoner who then became pregnant. He was banished to a mine and the female prisoner was secretly executed. There are cases in which the life of the prisoner is spared if she has some unique added value to the camp (e.g. in case she was a secret agent). Prisoners committing less serious offenses are punished with additional hard labor. In the case of a mine, prisoners are kept underground in the tunnels during the period of punishment. So, this gives them the opportunity to breathe outside air less than once a week, working with half of the normal food rations.” (Ahn Myong-chul, former camp guard from PPC No.’s 11, 13 and 22). “If a prisoner commits a crime, he/she is sent to the Susong Prison. When the prisoner’s prison term expires, the prisoner comes back to the camp. There is no such thing as permanent release. There are trials. There are internal courts. The courts are under the control of the political department and there are judges also. They are all SSA officers. The trials are public. Preliminary investigations take place in the jail. The jail is in Tongpo Sector. Perhaps, there are around five jails. Prisoners are kept there during the entire period of preliminary investigation. They stay there until their trial. After trials, they may be pardoned or sent to Susong Prison. The camp is already a very difficult place for prisoners. It is much worse in the jails. That’s why the prisoners dread them. When a prisoner is released from the jail, he is in such bad shape that often the prisoner cannot walk home alone. Someone from the family must come to bring the victim home. No woman can marry before the age of 27 nor a man before the age of 30. They are punished if they have sexual relations before marriage. In cases of punishment for sexual relations, offenders are sent to the most difficult work sites. They may be given tasks such as pushing trolleys in underground mine tunnels or digging irrigation ditches at camp farm site. They cannot come home, but stay at a makeshift shelter to continue their work duty at night. That’s really a dreadful punishment.” (A08, former SSA officer at PPC No. 12 and 13 1967~1992) 96