white people be like "why yes i am an expert about this country that i've never been to, nor speak the language of, why do you ask?" https://twitter.com/SocksxMC/status/1347645834884767744

  • UmbraVivi [he/him, she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Okay for real though will anyone tell me that Kim Jong-Un is a democratically elected ruler?

    • SteveHasBunker [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      It’s a democracy, it’s just one where a single family has a massive cult of personality built around them where it’s almost always assured one of them will end up head of state.

      FYI I think this is a very bad thing in spite of supporting the DPRK. No single family should have that kind of clout in a society.

    • PhaseFour [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      He was not elected by direct democracy, but he was the product of a democratic process. This is true for China & Cuba too.

      I don't know how to get people here to understand, his family is extraordinarily popular in the DPRK.

        • jack [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          And I'm not necessarily declaring that the DPRK is definitely not a democracy but I am skeptical and doubt anyone could pull enough information to convince me, largely because of the information barrier.

          • spez_hole [he/him,they/them]
            ·
            4 years ago

            i wish the internet had more of these kinds of comments but it, would take effort so it's impossible

    • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      His family is exceedingly popular in the DPRK, so it's not outside the realm of possibility.

      Also I'm not really well versed on this one but it's my understanding that in the DPRK executive leadership is split between three people: the chairman of the state, the premier, and the president of the people's assembly. I guess Kim Jong-Un gets a lot more attention because of his family name and that he's responsible for things like international diplomacy and running the military, but I don't think he has unilateral power.

      Can anyone else speak on this with more expertise than I have?

      • unperson [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I'd add that Kim Jong Un is the first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, which is the majority party and follows democratic centralism, so he does have a good deal of extra power than the other two people sharing what other countries call the head of government.

        However the first thing Jong Un did when he became General Secretary of the Party was to abolish the position and replace it with a committee in which he no longer had veto power. Kim Jong Il became the "Eternal General Secretary" of the WPK mirroring what Kim Jong Il did when he abolished the role of the President, made Kim Il Sung "Eternal President" and split its functions among the three positions that you mentioned.