Inside North Korea's secret gulags: Prisoners strangled to death and others so hungry they ate grass

SAM WEBB dailymail.co.uk Chilling testimony from a former guard at one of North Korea's notorious prison camps has revealed the shocking cruelties and deprivation the inmates face. The man, known only as 'Lee' to prevent reprisals against his family, was a guard at Prison camp No16, also known as Hwasong camp, where 20,000 political prisoners live. Thousands have died or disappeared after being sent to the 200-square mill hellhole. Lee watched one man get murdered by two soldiers. The prisoner was first questioned by a man at a desk and then ordered to leave through a door at the back of the room. Behind the door was a pair of men, one of whom had a rubber cord. One wrapped it around the prisoner's neck while the other tightened it. He told The People: 'I can still see his face. I'll remember it until I die.' The prisoner's body was then thrown into a hole at the back of the room - joining many other corpses in there. Some of the prisoners were high-ranking politicians who had displeased North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un and sent to the camps, along with their families. 'They would be stripped of their possessions and then split up. They would never see each other again.' Another grisly execution method Lee heard about was prisoners being forced to dig holes in a field. They were then told to stand on the edge before being hit on the back of a head with a hammer. Guards bragged to each other about the sadistic ways they had dispatched their terrified and helpless victims. Prisoners had to walk seven miles to work in -25C conditions. Starvation was rife and the prisoners were often worked to death. Many ate grass, rats, snakes and even ants in a desperate bid to stay alive.