How does North Korea appoint its mayors and governors?

Question

Local elections have been held since 1999.[16] The people elect representatives to city, county, and provincial people's assemblies in local elections every four years.[1] The number of representatives is determined by the population of each jurisdiction.[17]

Regarding this, scholar Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul stated that "They have a dual system: there is a mayor/governor, technically elected (but actually appointed), and also there is a city/province party secretary. It is the latter who has real power, but mayor/governor can be important in some cases as long as he knows his proper place and does not challenge the Workers' Party of Korea secretary."[18]

How does North Korea appoint its mayors and governors? The quote suggests that they are technically elected but actually appointed. What does that mean exactly? It sounds like it's saying that North Korea fudges the number at the end while allowing some kind of elections in order to appoint whomever they chose fit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_North_Korea

probably there's only one candidate that appears on the ballot, as is the case with elections at other levels in NK and to some extent (i.e. except village level) in China too. politics.stackexchange.com/questions/81205/… ; politics.stackexchange.com/a/82731/18373 In fact, I'm probably not to up to date with China's village level democratic experiments. They seem to be on the wane journalofdemocracy.org/articles/… — 264 champagne bottles on ice, Commented Feb 13 at 15:17
Based on this video youtube.com/watch?v=dDLLd16L6ZQ it appears one can vote "yes" or "no" for candidates in NK, but there's probably only one nomination per post. — 264 champagne bottles on ice, Commented Feb 13 at 15:27
"Each ballot has only one name" youtu.be/CJ6nN4azuuE?t=19 That's in national assembly elections, but there's little reason to assume it's otherwise in local ones. — 264 champagne bottles on ice, Commented Feb 13 at 15:29
In USSR there was only one name on the ballot, which you could strike through and write your own person of choice; there are anecdotal cases of candidates turned down in village elections, but obviously such system guaranteed election of a pre-appointed person in any larger ones. — alamar, Commented Feb 13 at 19:10

Joe W · Accepted Answer · 2024-02-13 13:18:13Z

3

It means exactly that, they are "appointed" to run for office by the government but are actually elected into office in scheduled elections. When people in North Korea vote they are voting for government approved candidates who have been appointed to those spots.

answered Feb 13 at 13:18

Joe W

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3

In other words, there is only on candidate on the ballot.
– ohwilleke ♦
Commented Feb 13 at 19:20

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