They say genealogy records are used to prove merit for the Donghak Peasant Movement

At that time, any leaders worthy of being recorded in a genealogy book were tracked down, arrested, and executed. The only ones who survived were the commoners with no names, like "Soetdong-i" or "Dolsoe," whose identities weren't specified. Does this make any sense? I heard people even went as far as erasing their names from genealogy records and going into hiding to avoid arrest. How can the selection process for merit recipients be handled like this? I also heard the processing methods and results are opaque. They aren't just handing these out to their acquaintances, are they?
It's truly amazing how the Jeonbuk local government heads keep starting new projects while being ranked last in national financial independence. Amazing Jeolla-do, wow.