A new human rights report has exposed harsh conditions in North Korean prison camps, where ex-political prisoners and guards described a life of torture and starvation.
The report by the US Committee for Human Rights in NorthKorea, which used satellite pictures to pinpoint prisons, estimated North Korea had between 150,000 to 200,0000 political prisoners working as slave laborers in prison colonies.
North Korean authorities have consistently denied thesecamps exist or that such human rights violations have occurred.
Entitled The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea's Prison Campsthe report used testimony from 30 ex-prisoners and guards.
"Beyond a starvation diet, torture, beatings and inhumane living and working conditions, this regime practices a form of collective punishment where three generations of family members are given life-terms along with the family member charged with political crimes," said Mr David Hawk, author of the report.
Pregnant North Korean women arrested in China andrepatriated to camps faced a particularly arduous time.
One ex-prisoner described how a pregnant woman had labor induced only to have the newborn "suffocated with a wet towel".
The author said eight prisoners had first-hand information about "ethnic infanticide" against pregnant women repatriated from China at three camps along the North Korean-Chinese border.
Mr Hawk said he hoped the report would be circulated widely among politicians involved in talks with North Korea and that this would lead to more pressure over its human rights record.