A guide to voting in North Korea
March 27th, 2009 by James
As British Ambassador to North Korea Peter Hughes has graciously pointed out, North Korea recently held a fantastically fun election in which 99% of voters turned out and voted 100% approval upon Kim Jong-Il.
To give a closer look at the grand democracy taking place in North Korea, Japan’s NTV news had a man who once lived in the country reconstruct a typical voting booth scene. The instructions shown in the video are as follows:
- Enter the voting room and bow to the staff person as you receive a voting card.
- Your voting card will have Kim Jong-Il’s name printed on it. Old voting cards used to have ” [ ] Approve [ ] Disapprove” boxes one can select, but those cards were abolished in favor of the far more simple support cards.
- There is a red pen on a side table that you may use to change your voting card to an anti-Kim Jong-il vote. There is a member of the secret police monitoring you as you vote, so the mere act of glancing at the red pen could get you in trouble. If you want to live until the next election, ignore the red pen.
- To cast your vote, take your card and place it into the box. You must show your respect by bowing before the portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-il as you vote. Use both hands when placing the card in the box.
Everyone must vote. To keep the voter turnout percentage as high as possible, travel permits are heavily restricted in the month leading up to the election and those who are missing on election day may be officially declared dead.
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You can have it in any form you like. Milkshake! Deep fried! Steamed! Frozen! Butter on top! As long as it’s made with horse manure it’s perfectly okay.
In a country like North Korea, it’s not a matter of Yes or No. You either do it or you face the other side of a bullet wound.
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what’s the point of voting?
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Because it’s the People’s DEMOCRATIC Republic of North Korea – simple!
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It’s symbolic. It’s supposed to show the world that “the people are making the choices”.
It’s mistakenly called a socialist country, but socialism was supposed to transcend world borders (a product of nationalism) and emphasize class. North Korea (the Kims and their henchmen, at least) twisted it all up into a great ball of aristocratic-totalitarian-nationalist fused manure.
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The DPRK is the ultimate expression of socialist values. The government controls the means of production, the people are largely equal in prosperity (freezing and starving, but equal), and there are no evil corporations that unfairly concentrate capital. In terms of socialist utopia, it’s even better than Cuba.
It’s true that this glorious form of govenment has not transcended the DPRK borders and therefore doesn’t fit the definition of true International Socialism. I have no idea why DPRK’s example has not inspired its neighbors to emulate it. Perhaps their upcoming “satellite launch” will help persuade them.
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I disagree. The majority population is impoverished because the wealth all flows into controlled hands – Our Dear Leader et al.
It’s socialism in name and name alone. It’s an aristocracy ruled over by a tyrant in much the way a Feudalistic system operates. “The workers” are obviously not in control, which is the very heart of socialism.
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Couldn’t agree more Richard. I vote you move there and enjoy the Utopian existence that Great Leader Kim Il-Sung created.
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who wants to bet that the red pen doesn’t even have ink in it.
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Maybe it explodes when you touch it.
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This is Madness!
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Madness?
This is NORTH KOREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
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all i can say is Big Brother.
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Reminds me a bit of what I read about the voting system in the DDR. Although, North Korea seems to be much, much worse.
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Whats wrong with these elections? In China they don’t even have this. To me, it seems very clear that the man was able to make a choice. He showed his deep respect to his leaders that have given him everything he has, and then expressed his support to the great party that has kept North Korea going despite the imperialist Americans and Japanese. Not to mention the puppet government of Lee Myung-Bak in south Korea.
I dont know about you, but I see a great, perfect democracy and great socialism in action.
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This comment actually looks serious. I’m generally able to tell the sarcastic ones, like Richard’s a few comments up, but this one is either too subtle even for me, or actually serious. As hard as it may be to consider someone could seriously believe this.
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Nothing wrong with these elections.
The vote result of “100% approval upon Kim Jong-Il” is quite natural in this particular East Asian country, since the East Asian peoples are known to be people of ultimate uniformity and homogeneity and DPRK is the supreme existence among them. Everyone must appreciate the nature of East Asian people and should accept this vote result without any unjust suspicion.
Our earnest desire for liberation from the American Imperialism shall be realized. Burn the puppets of evil!
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“Burn the puppets of evil!”
You been watching “Team America” too much?
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You been watching “Team America” too much?
Yes, because I’m so ronery.
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