Q: What is a definition of hard labor in North Korea, in relation to the student who was recently sentenced?
—Candice Howland, Pine Lake
A: Otto Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia who recently was sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean prison, might have to work long hours with little food and live in poor conditions.
He also could be tortured and have no access to medicine, Suzanne Scholte, chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, told the Guardian.
“Conditions are horrific,” she said.
Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director for the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, told CNN.com: “He may spend his day planting apple trees. It will be fairly grueling forced labor.”
A 2009 report by the Korean Bar Association and Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights stated that former detainees worked up to 15 hours a day and “received 20 to 30 grains of corn and a bowl of soup cooked with just cabbage and salt.”
They also suffered from a variety of illnesses.
Warmbier was convicted for attempting to remove a propaganda poster from a hotel during a trip to Pyongyang in January.
None of the approximately 12 U.S. citizens arrested in North Korea since 2009 have been held more than two years, the New York Times reported.
American missionary Kenneth Bae served two years of a 15-year sentence before he was released in November 2014.
He worked eight hours a day on a farm and was hospitalized after losing 50 pounds and suffering kidney and vision problems, his sister Terri Chung told CNN in August 2013.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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