18 Of The Strangest Laws In North Korea

THREE-CASTE HEREDITARY SOCIAL SYSTEM

There is absolutely no social mobility in North Korea because your social class would have been determined by the Kims before you were born. In 1957, to increase control over his country, Kim Il-Sung introduced an all-encompassing social class system that categorized his own people into three classes – the “core”, the “wavering”, and the “hostiles.” Under his system, one’s class is completely determined by their “songbun”, that is, their family history with respect to their loyalty towards the Kims. The “core” group contains the elite and now forms the government officials who are closely connected to the Workers’ Party. The “wavering” is more or less the neutral class who are considered ordinary and obedient in the eyes of the Kims On the other hand, the “hostiles” are those whose family has wronged against the Kim family. The Kims consider them to be subversive pests who should suffer in poverty and be segregated from the rest of the population. The 200,000 odd prisoners which North Korea has in its many labor camps also belong to this class.