ABC reported on Thursday that the state offers a carrot-and-stick approach to the Olympic Games; athletes can look forward to refrigerators, cars, and televisions when they win, and labor camp when they lose. The rumors are unconfirmed, but ABC writes that “review meetings” after competitions often result in athletes’ expulsion from their sports organizations and assigned time in labor camps. North Korean Olympians going up against rival countries like the U.S. and South Korea have even more cause for concern. Yikes! North Korean labor camp isn’t a nice place. Defectors have described abysmal conditions and horrors such as torture, executions, and starvation. Human Rights Watch estimates about 200,000 people could be held in such camps, where prisoners are often forced to do “difficult physical labor such as mining, logging, and agricultural work … with rudimentary tools in dangerous and harsh conditions.”
