The camp was established around 1959 by Kim Il Sung[1] in central North Korea near Kae'chŏn county, South Pyongan Province.
The camp is about 155 km2 (60 sq mi) in area, with farms, mines, and factories threaded through the steep mountain valleys.
[6] The main purpose of the Kaechon internment camp is to keep politically unreliable individuals classed "unredeemable" by the North Korean government[1] isolated from society and to exploit their labour.
[8] Prisoners have to work in one of the coal mines, in agriculture, or in one of the factories that produce textiles, paper, food, rubber, shoes, ceramics, and cement.
[6] Witnesses have reported that prisoners interned in the camp are required to work for long periods, often from 5:30 to midnight.
[1][11] Eating rat flesh helps prevent pellagra, a common disease in the camp resulting from the absence of protein and niacin in the diet.
[14][15] Kim Yong (1995–1996 in Kaechon, then in Bukchang) was imprisoned after it was revealed that the two men who were executed as alleged US spies were his father and brother.