65 big things are all done by men. Men’s wages are of course higher, even if you work the same hours, because the man is the head of the household. We think that’s only natural. We don’t see it as discrimination. (Go Yeongsun, 2009, 4-5) It has been reported that, in special areas, women face sex-based violations of human rights in the process of entering an occupation as well. In one woman’s testimony it is reported that in the recruitment process selecting candidates for nursing jobs at the People’s Safety Agency Hospital, physical examinations are necessarily carried out as part of the identity checks, but they include even a gynaecological examination to ascertain one’s virginity without which one cannot take the job.30 Marriage also constitutes an area in which such class boundaries are difficult to overcome as birth origin impacts on marriages as well. Because a person’s ‘development potential’ is perceived as low or non-existent if she or he does not have a ‘good birth origin’, getting married to a woman who cannot show such a good background actually becomes problematic for peoples’ success in life. At the same time, the Integrity Department or other control organs also systematically interfere if someone’s birth origin is classed as inadequate.31 Although there are cases of women moving up in the origin-based class hierarchy through marriage, generally, these cases are very rare. Because an inadequate birth origin also influences marriage as it impacts on the advancement of one’s spouse, we can find quite many cases in which married life does not go smoothly. Especially for those whose birth origin or parental lineages are politically stigmatized, choosing a partner involves serious political, cultural, and psychological constraints. Birth origin and class categorization thus severely violate the free choice of partner. In &orth Korea, when a person with a bad background gets married to a person with a good background, even if they’ve chosen married life because they’ve loved each other no matter how much, married life brings destruction. That is because, for example, when a woman is like me but the man is something like a military official or a university student, the future of this man is then blocked. Because the wife’s family side is inferior you cannot develop. Even if you got married because you loved each other no matter how much, when a man says ‘I love this woman so much that I can’t leave her’, this man has to give up on his future. From becoming a member of the 30 Han, Mangil (Ed). 1999. What is education like in North Korea. Seoul: Our Education, p. 23. Korea Institute for National Unification. 2008. White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea. Seoul: Korea Institute for National Unification, p. 134. 31