NK Pro has identified three additional prisons in North Korea where major demolition and reconstruction work has taken place in the last year, part of apparent efforts to expand the state’s incarceration capacity and management.

The latest construction brings the total to 13 prisons undergoing significant remodeling work since 2023, according to NK Pro analysis.

Planet Labs satellite imagery shows the newest large-scale demolition taking place over recent weeks inside the prison walls of Kyohwaso No. 1 in Kaechon. A kyohwaso is a “reeducation facility” where prisoners are forced to do hard labor.

New construction has increased the size of prisons in Hoeryong and Kangdong as well.

North Korean authorities have not released any information about the expansive project, in keeping with the totalitarian regime’s extreme sensitivity over what defectors have consistently described as inhumane treatment across the penal system.

But leader Kim Jong Un has openly demanded that the legal system more thoroughly and formally punish “anti-socialist” crimes in recent years — in other words, people who oppose or do not sufficiently obey his policies.

The construction follows orders by Kim and other officials at a judicial system conference in Sept. 2022 to “use our laws as a political weapon … to protect the party” and “wage a law-based battle to wipe out anti-socialism and non-socialist acts.”

KAECHON

The newest work under the nationwide prison project is now taking place in Kaechon City, located near the Yongbyon nuclear complex and Kaechon Airbase. 

Planet Labs imagery suggests most buildings inside the walls of the 20-acre (8-hectare) prison known as Kyohwaso No. 1 have been razed since mid-January. Smaller walled compounds nearby appeared to remain intact as of March 9.

The project is still in the early stages, but patterns observed across the other recent prison projects suggest new cell blocks and administrative buildings will be built inside the walled area.

A defector interviewed by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) testified that they were sent to the Kaechon prison for perceived political crimes — attempting to escape the country — and that many others were sent to such facilities after being caught trying to cross the border.

An investigation released by HRNK in 2020 details evidence of prisoners being forced to work in nearby coal mines.

KANGDONG

NK Pro previously reported on remodeling efforts last year inside the prison known as Kyohwaso No. 4, located in Kangdong County at the outskirts of the capital city of Pyongyang. 

Now, updated high-resolution imagery on Google Earth shows the project included building a new inner walled partition around new buildings from May to Sept. 2025.

This includes two five-story structures that appear similar to milling towers at known foodstuffs and flour factories in the country, suggesting it is a proper factory that operates using prison labor. Factory facilities have existed for decades inside older parts of the prison as well. 

In addition to this location, NK Pro has found more construction at another walled prison compound in Ryongnam-gu at the western edge of Kangdong County bordering Sungho County. It features two connected walled compounds, one at the north with an area of 1.8 acres (0.75 ha) and the other to the south covering 1.5 acres (0.6 ha).

Planet Labs imagery shows construction of a small new building in the northern walled section in May 2025, followed by work in August to rebuild a wall of the southern section to expand the area.

Google Earth and Planet Labs imagery shows construction — likely rebuilding cell blocks — inside the southern section from 2015 to 2016, before doubling the size of the northern section’s perimeter walls in 2020.

HOERYONG

NK Pro also uncovered an earlier prison expansion project done in 2024 in Phungsan-ri (풍산리) of Hoeryong City, near the Chinese border. 

The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) determined through interviews with defectors that it and a separate walled compound to the southeast in Jongo-ri (전거리) are considered part of Kyohwaso No. 12. Former prisoners told NKDB they were not provided proper clothing, blankets or hygiene products, similar to the testimonies of poor living conditions at other facilities.

Planet Labs imagery shows new walls were built around Sept. 2024 that doubled the area of the prison grounds, though the new buildings look basic and the project overall lacks the large and modern designs of some others since the nationwide project began in 2023.

SARIWON

Meanwhile, Planet Labs imagery shows that demolition and land clearing inside the large prison in the center of Sariwon City has continued since NK Pro’s exclusive report on the activity in January.

This includes part of the K-shaped main cell block structure. It appears the entire area will be cleared, possibly to build large modern buildings like those seen in Sinuiju and Hamhung.

Edited by David Choi