As I have said Bob Collins' report on Songbun should be mandatory reading for any policy maker or strategist and anyone dealing with north Korea. Good to see Foreign Affairs recognizing the good work of the Committee for Human Rights in north Korea.
V/R
Dave
Marked for Life; Coercion, Control, Surveillance, and Punishment; The Hidden Gulag
Reviewed by Andrew J. Nathan
The Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea produces valuable research that sheds light on life in the “hermit kingdom.” These three recent reports reveal North Korea’s extraordinary system of repression. Collins describes the institution of songbun, under which each North Korean citizen is assigned “a heredity-based class and socio-political rank over which the individual exercises no control but which determines all aspects of his or her life.” Fifty-one subcategories are clustered into three classes, defined by their level of commitment to the regime: core, wavering, and hostile. Access to jobs, housing, medical care, and even marriage depends on one’s class status. Members of the lower classes are not allowed to live in relatively prosperous cities, such as Pyongyang. The regime directs foreign aid to the “core” group, while the lower groups—perhaps up to 80 percent of the population—suffer from famine and a high risk of political imprisonment.
(Continued at the link below)
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