On the 7th of next month, the mayor of Seoul and the mayor of Busan by-election will be held.

Elections in which each political party nominates candidates and wins the election with a lot of support from the people is a familiar political event in South Korean society.

In the process of unification or after unification, such elections should be held in North Korea as well, but it is not easy to hold an election in North Korea.



Currently, the North Korean election is just a banal act.


There are currently elections in North Korea as well.

Representatives of the Supreme People's Assembly, who are members of our National Assembly, and representatives of the local People's Assembly, who are remote members of local councils, are elected by election. is.

The fact that the turnout and approval rate are close to 100% in every election shows that elections are nothing more than an act of frustration.



As this result comes out, since it is a structure that cannot properly display the pros and cons right now, it is possible to think that free elections are possible if a structure in which people can enter the voting booth and properly secret ballot can be made, but that alone is not enough.

In order to be elected, a political party, a political group that will produce candidates, must be created, which is not easy in North Korea.



Now, North Korea is a complete'Kim Il-sung country' that says not to see, hear or speak unless it is Kim Il-sung's thought.

Political parties other than the Korean Workers' Party are meaningless and there is no such thing as a political faction.

Even if the space for free elections is open, it is difficult for a political group with a diverse spectrum to be formed in a short time.

Let's take a look at what it was like in East Germany.


The reason why elections were possible in East Germany


Prior to unification, the political party system in East Germany consisted of satellite parties under the one-party system of the'Socialist Unification Party' (Satong Party).

However, with the massive protests in East Germany in 1989, the monopoly of the Satong Party was shaken, and the Satong Party proposed the formation of the Central Round Table, and the Central Round Table included the Party and other political forces.



At this time, various political forces began to form in East Germany, such as the Böhlener meeting, the Neues Forum, and the Demokratie Jetzt.

As soon as the democratization process began in East Germany, it may be a bit puzzled that various political forces were formed within a short period of time, but it was possible to do so by looking at the internal situation of East Germany.



East Germany experienced liberal democracy between the First and Second World Wars. Among Eastern European socialist countries, along with the Czech Republic, it was the country that had the most Western European development path before the establishment of socialism.

It means that the people had a memory of democracy while experiencing democracy once.

For this reason, the aspirations of democracy were suppressed after the establishment of the socialist regime, but the residents of East Germany had the ability to engage in political action whenever conditions were met.

This is why the political power of various groups became possible in a short period of time as the political space was opened by large-scale protests in East Germany.

The first free general election in East Germany was held in March 1990 with the help of political parties in West Germany on the basis of the political groups thus formed.



Difficulty creating political parties in North Korea


However, North Korea is different from East Germany.

The North Korean region entered the period of Japanese occupation immediately after the feudal system of Joseon fell, and the socialist regime established after liberation was also far from democracy.

Since the North Korean regime has since changed to a dynasty dictatorship system that emphasizes idolization and deification of the Kim Il-sung family, residents have no opportunity to experience democracy.

North Koreans do not know what democracy is, and they do not have the capacity to form political groups on their own.



In such a situation where it is difficult to form a political force capable of developing into a political party in the North Korean region, it seems that the North Korean elections will inevitably be held in a somewhat special form in which South Korean political parties take the lead.

This is a method in which South Korean political parties prepare for regional elections in North Korea by preparing policies and pledges to represent the interests of North Koreans, and each political party decides on candidates for regional districts through an open selection process for North Korean political aspirants.

If political experience is accumulated in the North Korean region, the election process will be smoother, but the unification process or elections in North Korea in the early stage of unification will be a difficult process.