A U.S. NGO says more than 150-thousand people are being severely mistreated in North Korean prison camps.

The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) on Tuesday issued a 200-page report titled “Hidden Gulag: Second Edition, The Lives and Voices of Those Who are Sent to the Mountains.”

The report is based on the testimonies of 60 former prisoners and former guards, and it describes how whole families can be incarcerated, including prisoners' children and parents, for political crimes. It also documents the regular practice of forced abortions and infanticide.

Disclosing satellite images of the prisoner camps, the committee called on the North to allow an inspection of the camps.

The committee added that the North falsely told the UN Human Rights Council in 2009 that political prisoner camps don't exist.