The Korean War
The Korean war was the main cause of the POWs in North Korea. North Korea invaded South Korea hoping to convert them to communism. There were hundreds of thousands of South Korean soldiers captured in North Korea, along with the Americans. There were also many camps throughout North Korea. Only less than one hundred prisoners managed to escape, even after a law or agreement was written saying that the North Koreans had to let the prisoners go. This agreement was called the Armistice Agreement. There were three different types of POW camps; Peace camps, Reform camps, and Normal POW camps.
- Peace Camps: Were for people who were considering switching to communism
- Reform Camps: Were for people who were very skilled and had been taught communistic acts
- Normal Camps: Were for the average people, who didn't believe in converting to communism, and weren't the communistic acts or ideas of communism. (Just regular people)
This political cartoon also shows the separation of North and South Korea, also known as the 38th parallel as you've read previously. This also, was another cause for the Korean War, making the Korean War a main cause for the POWs, because the Korean War caused the US to join the South Koreans, and during the fight caused the North Koreans to capture as many soldiers as they could during the battle. This is a HUGE violation of Human Rights because the POWs aren't letting the soldiers be free. They're captured and being held against there will in a disease infested prison camps, killing hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Human rights are your freedoms to BE YOU and do what YOU want, not what people are trying to tell you or convince you to do like the North Koreans are to the imprisoned POWs.
If you would like to learn more, or see more about the Armistice Agreement in Korea, go one of these websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Armistice_Agreement
http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/?dod-date=727
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Armistice_Agreement
http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/?dod-date=727