A North Korean defector says a large number of repatriated escapees are detained at a political camp in Yodeok in the North's South Hamgyong Province.

Kim Su-chol, who arrived in Seoul in May last year, on Tuesday told of his three-year imprisonment at the camp in a news conference co-hosted by the Seoul-based Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag and the U.S. human rights group Freedom House.

He said 34 repatriated defectors were among the 200 detained in his division, disclosing names, why they were seized and other personal data.

The network said five to ten political camps in the North hold more than 200,000 prisoners.