Defectors have smuggled out documents that appear to reveal how methodical the
chemical experiments were. One stamped ‘top secret’ and ‘transfer letter’ is
dated February 2002. The name of the victim was Lin Hun-hwa. He was 39. The
text reads: ‘The above person is transferred from … camp number 22 for the
purpose of human experimentation of liquid gas for chemical weapons.’

Kim Sang-hun, a North Korean human rights worker, says the document is genuine.
He said: ‘It carries a North Korean format, the quality of paper is North
Korean and it has an official stamp of agencies involved with this human
experimentation. A stamp they cannot deny. And it carries names of the victim
and where and why and how these people were experimented [on].’

The number of prisoners held in the North Korean gulag is not known: one
estimate is 200,000, held in 12 or more centres. Camp 22 is thought to hold
50,000.

Most are imprisoned because their relatives are believed to be critical of the
regime. Many are Christians, a religion believed by Kim Jong-il to be one of
the greatest threats to his power. According to the dictator, not only is a
suspected dissident arrested but also three generations of his family are
imprisoned, to root out the bad blood and seed of dissent.

With North Korea trying to win concessions in return for axing its nuclear
programme, campaigners want human rights to be a part of any deal. Richard
Spring, Tory foreign affairs spokesman, is pushing for a House of Commons
debate on human rights in North Korea.

‘The situation is absolutely horrific,’ Spring said. ‘It is totally
unacceptable by any norms of civilised society. It makes it even more urgent to
convince the North Koreans that procuring weapons of mass destruction must end,
not only for the security of the region but for the good of their own
population.’

Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said: ‘For
too long the horrendous suffering of the people of North Korea, especially
those imprisoned in unspeakably barbaric prison camps, has been met with
silence … It is imperative that the international community does not continue
to turn a blind eye to these atrocities which should weigh heavily on the
world’s conscience.’