In North Korea, children are not born with bread under their arms. If there’s one thing they cradle, it’s probably ‘songbun’, which is one of the words most used in their daily lives by the approximately 26.1 million people living in the republic led by Kim Jong-un. . Songbun is the closest thing to destiny. The only difference is that in this case the concept is grim and contains little mysticism. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Human Rights Committee of North Korea (HRNK), among others, spoke about the existence of the organization and the discrimination it causes among North Koreans. There are also expats now thinking about this and speaking from across the border.

“There’s nothing you can do to change your fate,” says Yeonmi Park, one of the immigrants and author of ‘Running to Live’. The big question that lingers and is devastating in your mind is… What the hell is Songbun?

I look (way) back. The best way to understand what songbun is is to look back to the 1940s, the times of Kim Il-sung and the birth of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. To facilitate control of the nation and structure it on a social level, its leaders promoted a type of caste system, a method of classifying the entire population according to their merits and, above all, family background. The mechanism was consolidated between 1957 and 1960, which coincided with Kim Il-sung’s rise to power.

Name: Songbun. Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) defines it as “the sociopolitical classification that determines the status of North Korean citizens.” Others compare it to India’s caste system and speak of “North Korean-style Brahmins and untouchables.” Very simple. Good songs equal opportunities. A bad song about adversity.

What did your grandfather do? The most curious thing about the system is that every North Korean comes into the world with a pre-assigned song that they can almost never correct. The reason: This kind of “karma” is determined by how their ancestors acted, how loyal they were to the regime, or the role they played decades ago. What job did your great-grandfather work during Japanese rule at the beginning of the 20th century? How were your grandparents or parents positioned during the Korean War? Do you come from religious people, wealthy merchants and landowners, or farmers? Do you have a family history of impeccable support for the North Korean government? Do you have a dissenting, distant uncle?

None of these problems are trivial in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. There are those who say that what Kim Il-sun did was to collect in his own way the old Confucian caste system that had been in place for centuries in the same region and adapt it to the new communist regime. By the 1960s, it is believed that a comprehensive system of social segmentation already existed.

Categories and subcategories. It is not easy to know the details of Songbun. North Korea denies its existence and claims that all its citizens enjoy equal opportunities. As HRW recalls, the Constitution itself states that everyone living in the country “has equal rights” “in all spheres of state and public activity.” However, international organizations such as HRW, HRNK, Crossing Borders and Amnesty International have spoken out about the existence of the North Korean social classification system, as well as foreigners and journalists in the media. Guardian or BBC.

Through their research and testimony, we are able to learn some details about Songbun, a term that can be translated as “origin” or “seed” and is related to the phrase “chulsin Songbun,” “family origin.” The BBC points out, for example, that experts generally talk about three major social classes, but there are those who add extra categories and up to 51 different subcategories. The main blocks will be: haeksimConsidered as the hard “core” closest to the regime; the choktaeor “hostile”; And Dongyo“middle class.

But… What do they mean? Connections between past, present and future. Really. Essentially, these words are labels that connect every North Korean to their ancestors and determine their future. haeksim They are “caste” citizens, descendants of former combatants who fought against the Japanese or were on the “right” side in the Korean War, loyal to the Kim family and worthy of the regime’s trust. This label also includes party members, descendants of peasants or workers with perfect records… Just the opposite choktaeTheir lineages can be traced back to landowners, religious figures, or those who were worst off in the conflicts of the 20th century.

There is an intermediate category between the two; DongyoThis is a status that is rich in nuance and includes families with a more or less positive track record in the eyes of the authorities, as well as families that are closer to crossing the red line. choktae. The BBC explains that this mid-level status is the most populous, bringing together 40% of the population. “Caste” represents the 30%, the same as “enemies”;

“There’s nothing you can do”. Not all sources describe the system in the same way. For example, Fyodor Tertitskiy, in an NK News article, claims that there are five groups, including a “special” category, and that the song is evaluated according to two factors: the social position and behavior of paternal ancestors during the Japanese colonial period and Korean War; but also the place that every human being occupies in North Korean society.

Tertitskiy explains that there are ways to develop this idea, such as showing a photo with the country’s leader. Others, like expatriate activist and author Park, believe it is too difficult to change the song. “There is nothing you can do to change your destiny because you cannot choose your ancestors.”

Where do you study, where do you work. Whether a North Korean is part of one category or another affects their lives. The difference between being a part haeksim or a bull It comes down to determining basic issues such as where a citizen lives, which universities and professions he can turn to, or what his expectations are.

The “core” members, who have an impeccable family background and are loyal to the regime, enjoy the greatest privileges, have the best universities, jobs and hospitals, and also live in the most developed cities, including the capital Pyongyang. The situation is different for choktaeThose the government perceives as “enemies”: live in remote towns, face poorer services, and have limited educational and employment opportunities throughout their lives.

Be careful who you marry. “Children of this caste go to school in the morning for ideological education, but then they get used to working in the fields and mines. They usually have a short lifespan and are under almost constant surveillance by the authorities,” says BBC Park. .

The author points out that Songbun is so important to North Koreans that they often keep it in mind when deciding who to marry. He says that with bribery, a family can find out whether a prospective husband or wife belongs to one group or another. According to Park, the possibility of increasing status through bribery is being ignored. And there is a very simple reason for this: in several cases it would require falsification of documents, and the songs of relatives would always remain.

Evidence of bribery. “Can you change your songbun? When it comes to ancestors, the answer is almost always negative. Records are kept in four different places: the local government office, the general police, the secret police and special organizations, for example, the Workers’ Party, the Women’s League or the union,” agrees Tertitskiy.

From theory to practice. It’s not all theory. In 2016, HRW reported the specific case of Choi Seung Chol, a North Korean who fled the country in 2014, in part because of how Songbun conditioned his life. Choi was born in the ’90s, worked hard in his studies, worked hard to bring value to the government – he got up at six in the morning to clean shrines dedicated to North Korean leaders – and even became a youth leader. game.

Neither this nor the bribes given by his family did him much good. When he tried to enter the best universities to secure an influential position, he was rejected one after another. This was frustrating, but partly predictable: Some time ago, HRW recalls, the North Korean State had sent Choi’s grandfather to the post of World War II, which forced his father to move to a mountain in the 1960s. He was accused of supporting the Japanese during World War II. bay.

Pictures | These are (Flickr), Thomas Evans (Unsplash) and (Stephan) Flickr

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