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Songbun

February 15, 2024

Not to be confused with Sŏn'gun.

Songbun (Korean: 성분; MR: sŏngpun), formally chulsin-songbun (Korean: 출신성분; MR: ch'ulsin sŏngpun, from Sino-Korean 出身, "origin" and 成分, "constituent"), is the system of ascribed status used in North Korea. According to the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the American Enterprise Institute, it is based on the political, social, and economic background of one's direct ancestors as well as the behavior of their relatives, songbun is used to classify North Korean citizens into three primary castes—core, wavering, and hostile—in addition to approximately fifty sub-classifications, and determine whether an individual is trusted with responsibilities, is given opportunities within North Korea,[1] or even receives adequate food.[2] The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the American Enterprise Institute states that Songbun affects access to educational and employment opportunities and it particularly determines whether a person is eligible to join North Korea's ruling party, the Workers' Party of Korea.[3][1]

Chulsin sŏngbun
Chosŏn'gŭl
출신성분
Hancha
出身成分
Revised RomanizationChulsin-seongbun
McCune–ReischauerCh'ulsin-sŏngpun

Description edit

According to the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, being based on the Resident Registration Project of 1967–70, there are three main classifications and about 50 sub-classifications.[2] According to former CIA analyst Helen-Louise Hunter, those with a landlord, merchant, lawyer, or Christian minister in their background are given very low status.[4] The highest status is accorded to those descended from participants in the resistance against Japanese occupation during and before World War II and to those who were factory workers, laborers, or peasants as of 1950. B. R. Myers, associate professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, summarizes the core (haeksim)[5] class as consisting of "high-ranking party cadres and their families". The wavering (dongyo)[5] class is reserved for average North Koreans, whereas the hostile (choktae)[5] class is made of possible subversive elements (e.g. former landowners).[6] According to CIA analyst Helen-Louise Hunter, the Communists were highly successful in turning the pre-revolutionary social structure upside down, and songbun is reflective of that. In her view, the "preferred class" consists of 30% of the population, the "ordinary people" make up the middle 40%, and "undesirables" make up the bottom 30%.[7]

Files are maintained on every North Korean by security officials and party cadres[8][page needed] from age 17 and updated every two years.[2] In general, songbun is difficult to improve, but it can be downgraded for a variety of reasons such as a lack of political enthusiasm, marrying someone of lower standing, or being convicted—or having a family member convicted—of a crime, political or otherwise.[8][page needed] Before the late 1960s, it was possible to conceal that a relative had bad songbun; however, the ancestry of all citizens was thoroughly checked starting with a 1966 census.[8][page needed] These investigations have been suggested to have been a response to the Chinese Cultural Revolution which began in 1966. Kim Il Sung, afraid that Beijing would also interfere in his country, whether by invading or sponsoring a coup d'état (Chinese soldiers had been sent previously on "provocative incursions" into Korea), aimed to increase internal security by classifying his citizens.[6] These investigations were repeated several times in subsequent years, for reasons varying from suspected corruption in previous checks to weeding out possible opposition.[8][page needed]

U.S. journalist Barbara Demick describes this "class structure" as an updating of the hereditary "caste system", combining Confucianism and Stalinism.[9] She claims that a bad family background is called "tainted blood", and that by law this "tainted blood" lasts for three generations.[10] She asserts, however, that North Koreans are not told of their classification, and that children can grow up without knowing about their family status.[11] Similarly, analyst Helen-Louise Hunter describes songbun as "class background" and says that it is not officially published or precisely defined.[12]

The North Korean government, on the contrary, proclaims that all citizens are equal and denies any discrimination based on family background.[13]

Importance edit

Under Kim Il-sung, songbun was very important, it decided everything. Under Kim Jong-il, things are different—your family background still matters, but money nowadays is more important than social background.

—Description of songbun by a North Korean refugee born in the mid-1960s.[14]

Since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the importance of songbun has decreased. Before the collapse, the North Korean economy was heavily subsidized by the bloc. Through these funds, the government was able to provide all material goods, so income could only be derived by working in industry or the bureaucracy. As a result, one's ability to obtain goods from the distribution system, where one could live, what career was pursued, or how much one could advance in society depended solely on their songbun, which made it the "single-most important factor that determined the life of a North Korean". Before the centralized system's collapse, the government had "near-complete control of an individual's life"; therefore, the only way to increase one's status or affluence was by advancing through the bureaucracy.[14]

During the 1994 to 1998 North Korean famine itself—when up to 2.5 million died—the songbun system "often determined who ate and who starved", according to Brian Hook.[15]

As the centralized system collapsed, the importance of songbun decreased.[5] To survive, capitalism was "rediscovered", and the average North Korean now derives most of his or her income through private enterprise. When these private markets started, it was instead more advantageous to be part of the hostile class, because they were not as dependent on the government as were those with better songbun. Military service has decreased in popularity; previously, after seven to ten years of service, a North Korean man could hope to become a low-level bureaucrat, but nowadays it is more profitable to engage in private enterprise. Songbun remains important to members of the government elite, but for the majority of North Koreans, wealth has become more important than songbun when defining one's place in society.[14]

A prominent example of songbun involves Ko Yong-hui, the mother of present leader Kim Jong Un. Ko was born in Osaka, Japan, which would make her part of the hostile class because of her Korean-Japanese heritage; furthermore, her grandfather worked in a sewing factory for the Imperial Japanese Army.[16] Before an internal propaganda film was released, after the ascension of Kim Jong Un, there were three attempts made to idolize Ko, in a style similar to that associated with Kang Pan-sŏk, mother of Kim Il Sung, and Kim Jong-suk, mother of Kim Jong Il and the first wife of Kim Il Sung.[17] These previous attempts at idolization had failed, and they were stopped after Kim Jong Il's 2008 stroke.[16] The building of a cult of personality around Ko encounters the problem of her bad songbun, as making her identity public would undermine the Kim dynasty's pure bloodline.[16] Ko's real name or other personal details have not been publicly revealed (her origins could be figured out, as she worked with Mansudae Art Troupe in Pyongyang), so she is referred to as "Mother of Korea" or "Great Mother", and the most recent propaganda film called its main character "Lee Eun-mi". The complications of Ko's songbun were such that after Kim Jong Il's death, her personal information, including name, became state secrets.[17] While songbun is usually passed from the father,[14] Ko's background has the "lowest imaginable status qualities" for a North Korean.[16]

See also edit

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b Matthew McGrath (June 7, 2012). "Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea's Social Classification System". NK News. from the original on March 18, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Robert Collins (June 6, 2012). Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea's Social Classification System (PDF). Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
  3. ^ Hunter 1999, p. 3–11, 31–33.
  4. ^ Jerry Winzig. "A Look at North Korean Society" (book review of Kim Il-song's North Korea by Helen-Louise Hunter). winzigconsultingservices.com. Retrieved June 8, 2011. In North Korea, one's songbun, or socio-economic and class background, is extremely important and is primarily determined at birth. People with the best songbun are descendants of the anti-Japanese guerrillas who fought with Kim Il-song, followed by people whose parents or grandparents were factory workers, laborers, or poor, small farmers in 1950. "Ranked below them in descending order are forty-seven distinct groups in what must be the most class-differentiated society in the world today." Anyone with a father, uncle, or grandfather who owned land or was a doctor, Christian minister, merchant, or lawyer has low songbun.
  5. ^ a b c d Collins, Robert (2012). Marked for Life: SONGBUN, North Korea's Social Classification System. United States of America: Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. p. 4. ISBN 978-0985648008.
  6. ^ a b B.R. Myers (2010). The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters. Hoboken, NJ: Melville House Publishing. ISBN 978-1-933633-91-6.
  7. ^ Hunter 1999, p. 4-5.
  8. ^ a b c d Hunter 1999.
  9. ^ Demick 2010, p. 26-27.
  10. ^ Demick 2010, p. 28, 197, 202.
  11. ^ Demick 2010, p. 28.
  12. ^ Hunter 1999, p. 3, 6.
  13. ^ . Archived from the original on 2013-07-08. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
  14. ^ a b c d Andrei Lankov (2011-12-03). . Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2011-12-03. Retrieved 2012-07-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ^ Hook, Brian H. (24 November 2017). "The Parasites Feeding on North Koreans". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  16. ^ a b c d Ko Young-ki (2012-06-26). "Happy Birthday, Ko Young Hee". Daily NK. from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2012-07-01.
  17. ^ a b Cho Jong-ik (2012-06-30). ""Great Mother" revealed to World". Daily NK. from the original on 2014-09-24. Retrieved 2012-07-01.

Works cited edit

  • Demick, Barbara (2010). Nothing to Envy: Love, Life and Death in North Korea. London: Fourth Estate.
  • Hunter, Helen-Louise (1999). Kim Il-song's North Korea. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-96296-2.

Further reading edit

  • "Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Marzuki Darusman" (PDF). United Nations Human Rights Council. – Annex E. Discrimination: Division of society into three different groups of allegiance to the regime (p. 23)
  • "White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2011". Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU). – The Reality of Civil and Political Rights 4. The Right to Equality (p. 219 – 224)- DEAD LINK
  • "World Report 2006: North Korea". Human Rights Watch. 3 January 2006. – Discrimination in Education, Jobs, and Health Care
  • "Political Classification and Social Structure in North Korea". Kongdan Oh , Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. 30 November 2001. – Testimony about the North Korean regime's political classification system
  • Kirsch, Sarah E. . Sarah E. Kirsch. Archived from the original on 2022-03-06. Retrieved 2017-11-01. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) – Songbun, North Korea's social classification system
  • . Hwang Jang-yop, Daily NK. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. – Who are the people in the concentration camps: Persons with bad security ratings (hostile class) and their families- DEAD LINK, RESULTS IN A 404
  • "Robert Collins: Songbun enters into everything"
  • "Marcus Noland: Fissures within even the core class"
  • "Andrew Natsios: Songbun system causes death through malnourishment"
  • "Songbun: Social Class in a Socialist Paradise" by Sokeel J. Park, Research and Policy Analyst

February 15, 2024
songbun, confused, with, sŏn, korean, 성분, sŏngpun, formally, chulsin, songbun, korean, 출신성분, ulsin, sŏngpun, from, sino, korean, 出身, origin, 成分, constituent, system, ascribed, status, used, north, korea, according, committee, human, rights, north, korea, ameri. Not to be confused with Sŏn gun Songbun Korean 성분 MR sŏngpun formally chulsin songbun Korean 출신성분 MR ch ulsin sŏngpun from Sino Korean 出身 origin and 成分 constituent is the system of ascribed status used in North Korea According to the U S Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the American Enterprise Institute it is based on the political social and economic background of one s direct ancestors as well as the behavior of their relatives songbun is used to classify North Korean citizens into three primary castes core wavering and hostile in addition to approximately fifty sub classifications and determine whether an individual is trusted with responsibilities is given opportunities within North Korea 1 or even receives adequate food 2 The U S Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the American Enterprise Institute states that Songbun affects access to educational and employment opportunities and it particularly determines whether a person is eligible to join North Korea s ruling party the Workers Party of Korea 3 1 Chulsin sŏngbunChosŏn gŭl출신성분Hancha出身成分Revised RomanizationChulsin seongbunMcCune ReischauerCh ulsin sŏngpun Contents 1 Description 2 Importance 3 See also 4 References 4 1 Citations 4 2 Works cited 5 Further readingDescription editAccording to the U S Committee for Human Rights in North Korea being based on the Resident Registration Project of 1967 70 there are three main classifications and about 50 sub classifications 2 According to former CIA analyst Helen Louise Hunter those with a landlord merchant lawyer or Christian minister in their background are given very low status 4 The highest status is accorded to those descended from participants in the resistance against Japanese occupation during and before World War II and to those who were factory workers laborers or peasants as of 1950 B R Myers associate professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan South Korea summarizes the core haeksim 5 class as consisting of high ranking party cadres and their families The wavering dongyo 5 class is reserved for average North Koreans whereas the hostile choktae 5 class is made of possible subversive elements e g former landowners 6 According to CIA analyst Helen Louise Hunter the Communists were highly successful in turning the pre revolutionary social structure upside down and songbun is reflective of that In her view the preferred class consists of 30 of the population the ordinary people make up the middle 40 and undesirables make up the bottom 30 7 Files are maintained on every North Korean by security officials and party cadres 8 page needed from age 17 and updated every two years 2 In general songbun is difficult to improve but it can be downgraded for a variety of reasons such as a lack of political enthusiasm marrying someone of lower standing or being convicted or having a family member convicted of a crime political or otherwise 8 page needed Before the late 1960s it was possible to conceal that a relative had bad songbun however the ancestry of all citizens was thoroughly checked starting with a 1966 census 8 page needed These investigations have been suggested to have been a response to the Chinese Cultural Revolution which began in 1966 Kim Il Sung afraid that Beijing would also interfere in his country whether by invading or sponsoring a coup d etat Chinese soldiers had been sent previously on provocative incursions into Korea aimed to increase internal security by classifying his citizens 6 These investigations were repeated several times in subsequent years for reasons varying from suspected corruption in previous checks to weeding out possible opposition 8 page needed U S journalist Barbara Demick describes this class structure as an updating of the hereditary caste system combining Confucianism and Stalinism 9 She claims that a bad family background is called tainted blood and that by law this tainted blood lasts for three generations 10 She asserts however that North Koreans are not told of their classification and that children can grow up without knowing about their family status 11 Similarly analyst Helen Louise Hunter describes songbun as class background and says that it is not officially published or precisely defined 12 The North Korean government on the contrary proclaims that all citizens are equal and denies any discrimination based on family background 13 Importance editUnder Kim Il sung songbun was very important it decided everything Under Kim Jong il things are different your family background still matters but money nowadays is more important than social background Description of songbun by a North Korean refugee born in the mid 1960s 14 Since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s and early 1990s the importance of songbun has decreased Before the collapse the North Korean economy was heavily subsidized by the bloc Through these funds the government was able to provide all material goods so income could only be derived by working in industry or the bureaucracy As a result one s ability to obtain goods from the distribution system where one could live what career was pursued or how much one could advance in society depended solely on their songbun which made it the single most important factor that determined the life of a North Korean Before the centralized system s collapse the government had near complete control of an individual s life therefore the only way to increase one s status or affluence was by advancing through the bureaucracy 14 During the 1994 to 1998 North Korean famine itself when up to 2 5 million died the songbun system often determined who ate and who starved according to Brian Hook 15 As the centralized system collapsed the importance of songbun decreased 5 To survive capitalism was rediscovered and the average North Korean now derives most of his or her income through private enterprise When these private markets started it was instead more advantageous to be part of the hostile class because they were not as dependent on the government as were those with better songbun Military service has decreased in popularity previously after seven to ten years of service a North Korean man could hope to become a low level bureaucrat but nowadays it is more profitable to engage in private enterprise Songbun remains important to members of the government elite but for the majority of North Koreans wealth has become more important than songbun when defining one s place in society 14 A prominent example of songbun involves Ko Yong hui the mother of present leader Kim Jong Un Ko was born in Osaka Japan which would make her part of the hostile class because of her Korean Japanese heritage furthermore her grandfather worked in a sewing factory for the Imperial Japanese Army 16 Before an internal propaganda film was released after the ascension of Kim Jong Un there were three attempts made to idolize Ko in a style similar to that associated with Kang Pan sŏk mother of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong suk mother of Kim Jong Il and the first wife of Kim Il Sung 17 These previous attempts at idolization had failed and they were stopped after Kim Jong Il s 2008 stroke 16 The building of a cult of personality around Ko encounters the problem of her bad songbun as making her identity public would undermine the Kim dynasty s pure bloodline 16 Ko s real name or other personal details have not been publicly revealed her origins could be figured out as she worked with Mansudae Art Troupe in Pyongyang so she is referred to as Mother of Korea or Great Mother and the most recent propaganda film called its main character Lee Eun mi The complications of Ko s songbun were such that after Kim Jong Il s death her personal information including name became state secrets 17 While songbun is usually passed from the father 14 Ko s background has the lowest imaginable status qualities for a North Korean 16 See also edit nbsp North Korea portal nbsp Communism portal nbsp Politics portal nbsp Modern history portalYan an faction Caste Social status HukouReferences editCitations edit a b Matthew McGrath June 7 2012 Marked for Life Songbun North Korea s Social Classification System NK News Archived from the original on March 18 2013 Retrieved June 8 2012 a b c Robert Collins June 6 2012 Marked for Life Songbun North Korea s Social Classification System PDF Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Hunter 1999 p 3 11 31 33 Jerry Winzig A Look at North Korean Society book review of Kim Il song s North Korea by Helen Louise Hunter winzigconsultingservices com Retrieved June 8 2011 In North Korea one s songbun or socio economic and class background is extremely important and is primarily determined at birth People with the best songbun are descendants of the anti Japanese guerrillas who fought with Kim Il song followed by people whose parents or grandparents were factory workers laborers or poor small farmers in 1950 Ranked below them in descending order are forty seven distinct groups in what must be the most class differentiated society in the world today Anyone with a father uncle or grandfather who owned land or was a doctor Christian minister merchant or lawyer has low songbun a b c d Collins Robert 2012 Marked for Life SONGBUN North Korea s Social Classification System United States of America Committee for Human Rights in North Korea p 4 ISBN 978 0985648008 a b B R Myers 2010 The Cleanest Race How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters Hoboken NJ Melville House Publishing ISBN 978 1 933633 91 6 Hunter 1999 p 4 5 a b c d Hunter 1999 Demick 2010 p 26 27 Demick 2010 p 28 197 202 Demick 2010 p 28 Hunter 1999 p 3 6 KINU White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2011 pp 216 225 Archived from the original on 2013 07 08 Retrieved 2013 03 07 a b c d Andrei Lankov 2011 12 03 North Korea s new class system Asia Times Archived from the original on 2011 12 03 Retrieved 2012 07 01 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Hook Brian H 24 November 2017 The Parasites Feeding on North Koreans The New York Times The New York Times Retrieved 25 November 2017 a b c d Ko Young ki 2012 06 26 Happy Birthday Ko Young Hee Daily NK Archived from the original on 2013 10 12 Retrieved 2012 07 01 a b Cho Jong ik 2012 06 30 Great Mother revealed to World Daily NK Archived from the original on 2014 09 24 Retrieved 2012 07 01 Works cited edit Demick Barbara 2010 Nothing to Envy Love Life and Death in North Korea London Fourth Estate Hunter Helen Louise 1999 Kim Il song s North Korea Westport CT Praeger ISBN 0 275 96296 2 Further reading edit Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People s Republic of Korea Marzuki Darusman PDF United Nations Human Rights Council Annex E Discrimination Division of society into three different groups of allegiance to the regime p 23 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2011 Korean Institute for National Unification KINU The Reality of Civil and Political Rights 4 The Right to Equality p 219 224 DEAD LINK World Report 2006 North Korea Human Rights Watch 3 January 2006 Discrimination in Education Jobs and Health Care Political Classification and Social Structure in North Korea Kongdan Oh Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs 30 November 2001 Testimony about the North Korean regime s political classification system Kirsch Sarah E Effective Immobilization Social Classification within North Korea in Comparison with Burakumin and the Untouchables Sarah E Kirsch Archived from the original on 2022 03 06 Retrieved 2017 11 01 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Songbun North Korea s social classification system North Korea s Concentration Camps for Political Prisoners Hwang Jang yop Daily NK Archived from the original on 2011 07 06 Who are the people in the concentration camps Persons with bad security ratings hostile class and their families DEAD LINK RESULTS IN A 404 Robert Collins Songbun enters into everything Marcus Noland Fissures within even the core class Andrew Natsios Songbun system causes death through malnourishment Songbun Social Class in a Socialist Paradise by Sokeel J Park Research and Policy Analyst Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Songbun amp oldid 1206887187, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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