South Korean: North has prison camps

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A South Korean lawmaker contends North Korea still operates six prison camps holding 154,000 inmates, even though the North denies holding political prisoners.

Yoon Sang-hyun of the ruling Grand National Party says the North had around 10 such prisons with about 200,000 political prisoners until the late 1990, closing four of them because of pressure from other countries, Yonhap reported.

North Korea says it is innocent of any human rights abuse.

Yoon claimed political prisoners are forced to work more than 10 hours a day, receive only 200 grams of food a day and are denied access to medical care.

Besides political opponents or those who lost out in power struggles, the prisons hold ordinary people who made disrespectful remarks about the country's leader Kim Jong-il, Yoon alleged.