Korean caste system

Songbun (), formally chulsin-songbun (, 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; according to the North Korean secret police, songbun is used to classify North Korean citizens into three primary castes—core, wavering, and hostile—in addition to approximately fifty sub-classifications, and determin

The yangban (; ) were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon period. The yangban were mainly composed of highly educated civil officials and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats who individually exemplified the Korean Confucian form of a "scholarly official". They were largely government administrators and bureaucrats who oversaw medieval and early modern Korea's traditional agrarian bureaucracy until the end of the dynasty in 1897. In a broader sense, an office holder's family and descendants, as well as country families who claimed such

The chungin () were the upper middle class of the Joseon Dynasty in medieval and early modern Korean society. This privileged class of commoners consisted of a small group of petty bureaucrats and other highly educated skilled workers whose technical and administrative skills enabled the yangban and the royal family to rule the lower classes. Chungin were the lifeblood of the Korean Confucian agrarian bureaucracy, on whom the upper classes depended on to maintain their vice-like hold on the people. Their traditions and habits are the forerunners of the modern Korean administrative systems in b

The paekchŏng () were an untouchable caste in Korea, originating from some minority, nomadic groups of disputed ethnicity. Today, the word simply means a butcher.

'''''Ch'ŏnmin''''' (), or "vulgar commoners", were the lowest caste of commoners in dynastical Korea. They abounded during the Goryeo (918–1392) and Joseon (1392–1897) periods of Korea's agrarian bureaucracy.

caste system in Silla

== Definition ==

Sangmin (), short for '''''p'yŏngsangjimin''''' (), is a Korean-language term for commoners of the Joseon period (1392–1897).

Hopae were identification tags carried by Koreans during the Joseon period, recording the bearer's name, place of birth, status and residence. The tags consist of the person's name, birthdate, and where they were born. The hopae system helped the government in tax collection and retrieving runaway slaves. thumb|Hopae made in the late Joseon Dynasty