gwalliso- forced labor camps
The gwalliso (sometimes spelled kwanliso)are forced labor camps used to punish prisoners for an endless list of offenses. North Korea also employs collective punishment, meaning that when a person is arrested for an offense, that person and their entire family, going back as far as three generations, will all be sent to a prison camp. Prisoners in North Korea's gwalliso suffer from forced labor, severe food shortages, nonexistent medical care, lack of clothes and housing, continuous mistreatment, torture, and executions.
Ward 49
Ward 49 is an area of camps designed specifically for physically and mentally disabled people. Inmates are allowed to marry, but not to have children, and they are often sterilized to prevent their "defective" genes from entering the gene pool. Those with mental disabilities are targeted over those with physical handicaps, though both groups are collected and relocated to Ward 49. These people face harsh conditions, frequent beatings, and little food. Torture is common, and there are reports of prisoners being used as test subjects for chemical and biological weapons. Those who escape the fate of becoming human guinea pigs are subjected to hard labor.