The
yangban were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the
Joseon Dynasty. The yangban were mainly composed of civil servants and military officers. The yangban were landed or unlanded
aristocracy who comprised the
Korean Confucian idea of a "scholarly official." Basically, they were administrators and bureaucrats who oversaw ancient Korea's traditional agrarian bureaucracy until the medieval regime of
Joseon Dynasty ended in 1894. In a broader sense, office holder's family and descendants as well as country families who claimed such descendance were socially accepted as yangban.