North Koreans call political prison camps “control zones,” “special dictatorship target zones,” “relocation zones,” “political prison camps,” “exile centers,” and “○○ kwanliso.” It is commonly referred to as a management office.
The Kim Jong-il regime is taking a number of measures to prevent the outside world from being informed of the actual conditions of the political prison camps, and the name issue is one of them. In order to hide the existence of political prison camps, the Kim Jong-il regime is disguising itself as a military unit subordinate to the “Korean People’s Guard” on record. Its shape is also typical of a village.
