Nobi

The nobi were the enslaved class of Goryeo and Joseon Korea, legally the lowest rank, who could be bought, sold or given away; at their peak, in the mid-Joseon period, they were over 30 per cent of the population. Status was mostly hereditary, the child of a nobi and a commoner usually taking the lower one. Most lived apart from their owners with houses, families and land, but their property reverted to the owner at death. Nobi caught fleeing were severely punished, and an owner was not held responsible if one died of the beating.