Mr. Hawk describes the entire hierarchy of prisons to be found in North Korea's captive nation. It is difficult for me to talk of these things since in my later years I have become mildly claustrophobic. The thought of going to an enclosure where I will be locked in for an unknown period of time is pure torment. Add to it that I go there because I am hungry, or a Christian, or because I accidentally crumple a newspaper with Kim's face on it... unspeakable horror.

First there are the Kwan-li-so , to which a prisoner is banished for life with his entire family. It is run by the federal government. It is huge, covering as much as four or five hundred square miles! Tens of thousands of prisoners can be in such a place. The prisoners are "politicals" , that is, persons who said or thought something against Emperor Kim.

The Kyo-hwa-so is smaller. There is much hard labor. It is for those who commit "normal" crimes, if anything in North Korea can be called normal. Some political prisoners are mixed in. Sentences are set. But many persons die due to the hard work expected of them before their sentence is up. The true "penitentiary."

Then there is the Ka-mok or Ku-ryu-jang. These are along the northern border, where escapees can get to China. When it is their misfortune to be returned to their home country, it is here that they are interrogated and punished. We'd call this a "jail."

The jip-kyul-so is for low-level crimes and for repatriated refugees. They can stay here for up to six months of hard labor. Here there is a high death rate because of the nature of the work and the serious lack of food.

And then there is the ro-dong-dan-ryeon-dae , where sentences are even shorter, created by locals to deal with the over-flow of famine-related cases.

Odd. Here we say that misfortune is worthy of compassion, aid, support. There, he says it is worthy of prison, punishment, pain. And maybe death.