Who always wins election in an authoritarian country?
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above:
In the 2019 North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly Election, how many people cast votes?
Who won 100% of the votes?
Who counted 100% of the votes?
North Korea has a population of approximately 25.97 million. What percent of the population voted in the 2019 election?
How many provinces of North Korea voted 100% for Kim Jung-Un?
Big Brain Questions
Answer these questions by yourself using your brain and the links below:
As you look at the election results above, list anything that makes you skeptical that this was a free and fair election.
Elections are contests to determine who will hold office. No one was listed as an opponent in the election data above. Why would an authoritarian dictator bother to go to all the trouble of having an election?
the Korean Demilitarized Zone—the border between communist North Korea and democratic South Korea—is the most heavily militarized border in the world. The zone, which is 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) wide and 243 kilometers (151 miles) long, separates the two countries with barbed-wire fences, land mines, and armed guards. In North Korea, 750,000 troops, about 70 percent of North Korea’s total active force, are forward deployed within 100 kilometers (63 miles) of the DMZ. By contrast about 450,000 South Korean troops and 20,000 American troops are deployed within 100 kilometers of the DMZ. Explain whether this border is meant to keep people in or out.
The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who I don’t usually like to quote said, “I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how.” How does this quote relate to the visual above?
Compare and contrast the 2019 North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly election and the 2020 American presidential election?
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
If you will be 18 years old by the next election go ahead and Register to vote! You can do this online and it will only take you two minutes.
Get Creative
What do you think a Kim Jung-un election advertisement would be like?