The existence of the modern state and its bureaucracy almost inevitably prescribes the existence of classified information, and the DPRK is no exception. North Korea has five levels of secret information: “for Party members only”, “restricted”, “secret”, “top secret” and “ultimate secret”.

Like many other things in North Korea, the classification system is a modification of an old Soviet one. The USSR had a semi-official concept of a “Party secret” and in North Korea, it became a formal level of secrecy. The highest level in the Soviet Union was called “of utmost importance”, renamed in the DPRK to “ultimate secret.”