Sunday will see the first national election since Kim Jong-yn took power two years ago, but there will only be one name on the ballot sheet
The official North Korean news agency, the KCNA, released a statement on Monday informing the world that the administration was working flat out to co-ordinate an election which would “match the elated enthusiasm of voters.” While the Western world sniggers at the embroidery, or complete bullshit of this propoganda, the North Korean government manipulates the election for its repressive means.
North Korea is a one party state. That party being Kim Jong-un’s Workers’ Party of Korea. Fact. Well, almost fact. North Korea is actually a four party state. I could bore you by naming each of their long winded titles, however, this would be utterly pointless, as their existence counts for absolutely nothing. At the 2009 election, the other three parties received no votes. Their continued existence merely allows North Korea to present itself, to the rest of the world, as a parliamentary democracy.
Come election day there will be only one name on the ballot paper. This name will have been endorsed by the local branch of the Workers’ Party of Korea. You liberalists out there needn’t worry though, the government isn’t completely autocratic. Citizens are allowed to vote ‘no’ by crossing out the name on their voting slip. Unfortunately though, this does involve having to leave the ‘yes’ queue, crossing the room, and depositing the ‘no’ slip in a different box. I would imagine that this queue will be decidedly shorter and that the stern gaze of military personal might be enough to put the voter off.
Mina Noon is a defector from the country who participated in the 2011 elections. She believes that most people don’t have a clue who their local candidate is, but are obligated to vote because of the “consequences such as being politically criticised or restricted”. By not endorsing the official candidate North Koreans could earn themselves a one-way ticket to a concentration camp.
This ‘democracy’ runs on fear. As it happens, fear can be extremely effective, and the number of voters in North Korea evidence of this. In the 2010 British election, the turnout was 65.1%. In the last North Korean election, the turnout was a staggering 99.98%. Such insane figures would make Russell Brand physically sick.
Fear is so pervasive that it extends beyond North Korea’s national borders. There are up to 200,000 North Korean refugees living in China but since the turn of the year, tens of thousands have returned home. These people aren’t returning due to homesickness. They’re returning because if they don’t, they could be putting their family in serious danger.
One North Korean refugee told a news site how he was hiding in China in 2006, until he received a message from his family back home: “You will be forgiven by the Party if you come and vote in this election. If you don’t return, we will be banished from the city.” Within 24 hours he had crossed the Yalu River and was on his way back to North Korea. “The government checks the list of voters and if your name is not on the list, they will investigate it”, says Noon, who illegally left North Korea three years ago. “It is often during election that the government finds out about defectors and people who have been missed.”
Until the mid-1990s, communities were carefully controlled by the local inminban. During this time a famine devastated the country, leading to the collapse of the state’s public distribution system. Traditional methods of observation no longer functioned, meaning that national elections became the mechanism by which the government could keep tabs on the population.
There is much more to the election on 9th March han politics or propaganda. It is a perfect opportunity for the government to undertake a widespread crackdown on dissenters who have fled North Korea. Next time Britain bemoans its low election turnout, it would be pertinent to remember that in North Korea, the choice not to vote, is simply not an option.
Featured Image: Matt Paish via Flickr, inset image: Jensowagner via Flickr.
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