26,124,828 people
Source: Tyranny Tracker
HRF classifies North Korea as ruled by a fully authoritarian regime.
North Korea is ruled by a single hereditary-based and oppressive dictatorship that has been in power since 1948. The regime has established a cult of personality around its supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, and his predecessors, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung. Under all three rulers, the North Korean regime has committed systematic and widespread human rights abuses, brutal suppression of dissent, and pursued a complete elimination of political opposition. This has made it one of the world’s most isolated regimes, which consistently refuses to cooperate with various United Nations (UN) missions, turns down large-scale humanitarian aid, and undertakes only a limited degree of foreign relations.
Elections are a sham, serving to ratify the candidates that the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK)—the Kims’ party—puts forward. All existing political parties accept the WPK as the sole ruling authority and only hold a symbolic position in the political system. Together, the WPK, affiliated political parties, as well as mass organizations subservient to the regime, have won 100% of the votes in all national elections since North Korea gained independence in 1948.
All layers of North Korean society face overt and systematic retaliation if they openly challenge the regime. Dissent is not tolerated. Those who dissent and their family members risk imprisonment, forced labor, or the death penalty. North Koreans are strictly required to abide by the regime’s rules and ideology not only in their activities and speech, but also in their thoughts and behavior, making North Korea a totalitarian regime that attempts to control all aspects of its people’s lives.
Institutions fail to serve as a check on the regime in any capacity. The Supreme Leader wields absolute power over all governance aspects within the party-state framework. There is no separation between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Judges and prosecutors are subservient to the regime. The Supreme Leader relies on purges to fight systemic corruption, eliminate political rivals, and instill fear among elites and the bureaucracy.
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