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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What example is given of a person who would inhabit the lowest level of songbun?
(a) A political prisoner with no hope of release.
(b) A murderer whose victim is of higher status.
(c) A thief.
(d) A heretic.

2. What is the rough translation of the North Korean ideological term juche?
(a) Self-reliance.
(b) Worship.
(c) Homage.
(d) Greatness.

3. What aspect of the songbun system is kept secret from those residing within its levels?
(a) Marriage arrangements.
(b) The names of those within the Hostile class.
(c) Precise ranking.
(d) Job assignments.

4. Who are the bowibu?
(a) Secret police in Laos.
(b) Secret police in North Korea.
(c) Secret police in North Korea.
(d) Secret police in South Korea.

5. Whose daughter told Hyeonseo that illegal South Korean pop cassettes could be bought discreetly from certain dealers?
(a) Aunt Pretty.
(b) Hyesan's chief of police.
(c) Uncle Opium.
(d) Anju's magistrate.

6. Hyeonseo says that her parents' jobs and business dealings meant that her family had enough what?
(a) Vacation.
(b) Food.
(c) Medical care.
(d) Power.

7. What was the one luxury Hyeonseo says her family bought after moving into their riverfront home in Hyesan?
(a) A color television set.
(b) A hair dryer.
(c) A washing machine.
(d) A dishwasher.

8. What was the true cause of Hyeonseo's father's death?
(a) A bruised spleen.
(b) A fractured skull.
(c) Suicide.
(d) Influenza.

9. In what season did Hyeonseo and her family move to the riverfront house in Hyesan?
(a) Winter.
(b) Spring.
(c) Autumn.
(d) Summer.

10. At what age are North Koreans forced to join the Socialist Youth League?
(a) 10.
(b) 12.
(c) 14.
(d) 18.

11. On what instrument did Hyeonseo teach herself to play her favorite song?
(a) The violin.
(b) The xylophone.
(c) The samisen.
(d) The accordion.

12. What did Hyeonseo do when she saw the starving infant and its mother in the market outside Wiyeon Station?
(a) She called for an ambulance.
(b) She put money in the mother's hand.
(c) She put money on the baby's lap.
(d) She flagged down a policeman.

13. What did Hyeonseo's mother do immediately upon seeing her husband in the Hyesan hospital?
(a) She sobs.
(b) She hugs him.
(c) She faints.
(d) She screams.

14. When Hyeonseo heard the news that some local young women had been caught listening to South Korean pop music, what was their allocated punishment?
(a) They are exiled from North Korea.
(b) They are sentenced to a prison camp.
(c) They are forced to move to a different county.
(d) They are executed.

15. At what age does Hyeonseo witness her first public execution?
(a) Fourteen.
(b) Seven.
(c) Twelve.
(d) Nine.

Short Answer Questions

1. What level of the caste system is made up of 10-15% of the North Korean population?

2. Hyeonseo says that she has learned that people can do without almost anything, but they cannot do without what?

3. In total, how many rooms did Hyeonseo's house near the river in Hyesan have?

4. At what age does Hyeonseo first visit South Korea?

5. How many broad categories exist within the caste system of songbun?

(see the answer keys)

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