Brothers Home

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Brothers Home (Korean: 형제복지원) was an internment camp located in Busan, South Korea during the 1970s and 80s. During its operation, it held 20 factories and thousands of people who were rounded up off of the street, the homeless some of whom were children, in addition to a college student who was protesting the regime. Only 10% of internees were actually homeless.[1] The camp was home to some of the worst human rights abuses in South Korea during the period, which were exposed in an Associated Press article.[2] and CNN in 2016.[3][4]

The South Korean government called the Brothers Home and other similar concentration camps opened by the Chun Doo-hwan regime during the fourth and fifth republics: "welfare centers".

A DW news article reports a minimum of 516 people died over the course of 20 years at Brother's Home.[5] Widespread torture was common in these welfare centers.[6][7] In the 1990s, construction labourers dug up about 100 human bones on the patch of mountain just outside where it stood.

Involvement of the Protestant Church[]

The camp was operated in conjunction with the Protestant Church, with the church on the premises accommodating 3,500 people at any one time. Survivors allege close cooperation between the camp and the church on the premises. One former inmate reports being forced to perform in Christian plays for local and international guests and given Easter eggs as rewards; another was sent to the camp via a Christian missionary; and yet another describes the church and the camp as a business operation run by Pastor Lim Young-soon and Director Park In-keun (a former boxer and soldier), with children forced to work and run an on-premises Korean adoption operation[8] , including writing letters soliciting donations from families who have adopted children in the past.[9] Some of the adoption partners abroad were also part of Christian organizations.[10]

Aftermath[]

"Park was eventually sentenced to two and a half years in prison only for embezzlement".[11]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Kim, Susan (10 December 2021). "Secrets of South Korea's house of horrors hidden in Australia". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  2. ^ Tong-Hyung, Kim; Klug, Foster (19 April 2016). "AP: S. Korea covered up mass abuse, killings of 'vagrants'". The Big Story. Associated Press. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  3. ^ Child victims of Brothers Home still search for justice
  4. ^ "Brothers' Home: South Korea's 1980s 'concentration camp'". BBC News. 30 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Report highlights past abuse of 'vagrants' in SKorea - 21.04.2016". DW.COM. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  6. ^ Jung, Bugyeong (2020-05-30). "Brothers' Home: South Korea's 1980s 'concentration camp'". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  7. ^ Kim, Susan (10 December 2021). "Secrets of South Korea's house of horrors hidden in Australia". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Abusive South Korean Facility Exported Children". VOA. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  9. ^ Kim, Susan (10 December 2021). "Secrets of South Korea's house of horrors hidden in Australia". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Abusive South Korean Facility Exported Children". VOA. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Brothers' Home: South Korea's 1980s 'concentration camp'". BBC News. 30 May 2020.

Coordinates: 35°9′14.51″N 129°0′35.91″E / 35.1540306°N 129.0099750°E / 35.1540306; 129.0099750

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