Exploitation: The North Korean government routinely forces most of its citizens, often made up of women, children, and prisoners, to periods of forced labor. This forced labor is used to build the country’s infrastructure and carry out events that praise the ruling family.  The regime is able to do this by keeping the people controllable using fear tactics like random arrests, torture in custody, and executions with no real trail. 

This exploitation impacts work, as absence from work without permission is punishable by three to six months in forced labor training camps. This exploitation impacts education, as children are forced as young as 10 to 16 years old leave school for up to a month each year to pay teachers, maintain schools, and fund government campaigns.

Marginalization: There is a sociopolitical classification system called songbun. This system groups North Koreans into three classes: loyal, wavering, or hostile. This marginalizes non-loyal groups making schooling and employment difficult. This classification creates groups of people the system of labor will not or cannot use. This results in severe material deprivation of these classes. 

This marginalization impacts numerous occupations, especially in the category of work. Employment interests, acquisition, performance, and retirement are not viable options for the vast majority of the population. It also impacts parents’ ability to care for their children, and their home establishment and maintenance, as those who are marginalized have scant resources or options.

Powerlessness: Women are systematically powerless. Early in their education, boys are given leadership roles and girls are forced to be submissive to all men. It is extremely difficult for any women to be admitted to university, military, or join the ruling party. They therefore have no position of power and are only ever in the position of receiving orders. There are forced marriages of North Korean women to men in China, sexual exploitation, and sexual and gender-based violence is systemically unprosecuted. 

 This powerlessness impacts many occupations of women, including community mobility, health maintenance, work, education, and especially safety and emergency maintenance. They are unable to participate in work without fear, and their home management is severely impeded by domestic violence. 

Cultural Imperialism: The dominant decisions of the Kim royal family render the particular perspective and desires of the entire North Korean population invisible. The regime uses propaganda to distort the freedom and wealth found in any other countries. The Ministry of the People’s Security has declared defection as treachery against the state. North Koreans who flee and are caught undergo severe punishment. Refugees who flee to South Korea and are caught undergo more horrific punishment than those found in China. 

Cultural imperialism impacts North Koreans ability to have any functional social participation with those outside of North Korea, including family across the demarcation line in South Korea. This also impacts their community mobility, as they are imprisoned within their own oppressive country.

Violence: There is no freedom of religion in North Korea. The constitution states a “right to faith”, but in practice North Koreans are forced to only worship the Kim family. Identifying and gathering for worship as any other religion is punishable by imprisonment, forced labor, torture, and/or death. For example,  North Korean Christians fear random, unprovoked attacks on their persons by the ruling party that have no motive but to damage, humiliate, or destroy them. They are sought out for eradication and viewed as a threat to the Kim regime. If discovered, they are commonly killed on site or placed in political criminal labor camps. Their families, whether Christian or not, are punished the same way up to several generations.

 This violence directly impacts any North Korean whose religious values are not atheist. Their occupation of religious and spiritual activities and expression are denied. They are unable to speak of their religion, gather together, and are denied even the simplest right of life. This serious persecution profoundly impacts social participation, as identifying as religious creates instant social isolation out of fear of what the government will do to any connected to that person.