Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea's Social Classification System
Robert Collins — Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea's Social Classification System (2012)Robert Collins · 2012 · Report · executive summaryEstablishedSource attached · not independently reviewedCLM-1106 · as of 2026-10-30 · about: North Korea: hereditary personalist one-party rule (1948–present) · Author: Polity Atlas editorial team
“North Korea's songbun system classifies families into core, wavering and hostile classes, subdivided into about 51 categories, and has shaped residence, work, education, food rations and marriage.”
Context. The UN inquiry notes that marketisation and money have complicated songbun's effects since the 1990s.
Evidence that supports
2Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (A/HRC/25/63)
United Nations Human Rights Council, Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK — Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (A/HRC/25/63) (2014)United Nations Human Rights Council, Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK · 2014 · Report · paras 32–33Evidence that contradicts
0No counter-evidence recorded.
Status history
No earlier revisions.
Disputes
No disputes have been filed.