Surprise, surprise: DPRK listed among world's most repressive regimes

North Korea is among the eight most repressive regimes in the world, according to a report released yesterday by Freedom House. It earned the lowest possible ranking in terms of both political rights and civil liberties.

The press release is available here and the report itself here. [PDF file - scroll to page 60 for the section on North Korea specifically]

In other news, a Japanese TV station recently aired a report on a North Korean defector who was actually born in a prison camp. The camp from which he escaped, Camp 15, is a "total-control zone" camp - unlike Yodok, there is no possibility of release and thus the authorities apparently don't even bother trying to "re-educate" the prisoners. Daily NK has the story.