2) Survey Reports with Analysis of PPC Survey reports on the political prisoners’ camps in North Korea have been published by human rights organizations in Korea and abroad and have included recommendations for the improvement of human rights situations in North Korea. Most reports have dealt with the issue of PPC as part of overall human rights situations. A survey report exclusively on the issue of PPC has been extremely rare. The first report on the PPC was published in 1988 by Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights Committee and Asia Human Rights Watch8. The report contains information that about a total of 12 PPC were in existence, including four maximum-security camps created in 1982 and some 115,000-150,000 political prisoners were detained in these camps. Amnesty International published exclusive reports on PPC successively in 1993 and 1994, announcing 49 names, believed to be detained in PPC and six others who remained nameless, and officially requested the North Korean authorities for their whereabouts 9 . The reports had a great impact on the international community. North Korea has attempted to respond to the international concern about the human rights situations in North Korea by allowing access to some detention facilities of North Korea. However, the issue of human rights violations in North Korea has, since mid 1990s, focused primarily on North Korean defectors in China while the international concern with the PPC has relatively decreased and surveys and research about PPC has become less active. 8 “Human Rights in North Korea,” by Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights Committee and Asia Watch, pp 115-119, translation by Song Chol-bok and others, Koryowon, Seoul, 1990. 9 Amnesty International, Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns on North Korea (London:Amnesty International, 1993). AI Index: ASA 24/03/93.: Amnesty International, North Korea: New information about political prisoners (London: Amnesty International, 1994). AI Index: ASA 24/05/94. 16