Is anyone surprised?

North Korea used political prisoners from a concentration camp to prepare for its underground nuclear test on Oct. 9 last year, a federation of North Korean refugee organizations in South Korea alleged Monday. In a briefing in Seoul co-sponsored by the U.S. rights watchdog Freedom House, the Committee for Democratization of North Korea said it has testimony that North Korea was able to keep its nuclear test secret even from citizens because it used prisoners from a concentration camp in Hwaseong, North Hamgyeong Province.

Evidence that Pyongyang mobilized political prisoners to dig an underground shaft near Mount Mantap where it conducted the nuclear test, comes from Ahn Myong-chol, a former guard at the concentration camp, it said. Some 10,000 people were taken to Mount Mantap between 1987 and 1994. "Testimony that the nuclear test was closely linked with a political prison camp is backed by reports that North Korea frequently mobilizes political prisoners for medical experiments or dangerous construction projects,$)C!1 a spokesman for the organization said. The concentration camp in Hwaseong reportedly houses mainly senior political prisoners.

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