The May 11, 2008, issue of the Tokyo Shimbun reported the existence of a confidential report, Yanbian Prefecture, the Situation around the Chinese-Korean Border (Chinese) issued in June 2000 by the Ministry of State Security, an intelligence agency under the State Council (the government cabinet) of China. A noteworthy account is that more than a dozen political prison camps called “farms” are placed across North Korea, in which political prisoners and their family members estimated to amount to approximately 300,000 were confined. Until today, the North Korean authorities have denied the existence of any political prison camps in the country. The neighboring socialist, China, however, acknowledges the existence of such prison camps in a report, albeit a confidential document, issued by a government agency.

This report is said to have been obtained recently by a Japanese researcher in China, which is about 270-page long, describing Korean People's Army, the personnel deployment along the Chinese-Korean border, direct call numbers of relevant departments, a North Korean intelligence organization in China called “the 312th Room” (established in 1992) that collects information about South Korea and “Guard Troops” (established in 1995) under the national military.

The description about the prison camps draws the most attention of people wishing for the abolition of North Korean prison camps. As to whether the statement that the number of camps is more than a dozen corresponds to the 12 camps previously reported in Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (jointly published by Minnesota Lawyers and Asia Watch, 1988) or whether it was the number current at the time of the investigation (1999-2000), an examination and assessment by Democracy Network against North Korea Gulag (represented by Tae-jin Kim) in South Korea, which considers that the number is five or six in recent years, are awaited.

The significance of the fact that China, a friendly nation to North Korea, acknowledges the existence of prison camps in the mountains of North Korea is immeasurable. Refer to the article in the May 11, 2008, issue of the Tokyo Shimbun for details. The article includes a photograph of the confidential report.