North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un Photo: AFP/Getty Images
On March 9, North Koreans will hold a general election. But why does North Korea have a vote and what do its citizens understand by democracy?
At the end of this week, Kim Jong-un, North Korea's young leader, is standing for election.
His constituency is Mount Paektu, the holy mountain on the Chinese border where his father, according to legend, was born.
But voters will not have any choice; Kim's name will be the only one on the ballot.
Indeed, across North Korea, all voting slips will carry a single name: the candidate endorsed by the Workers' Party.
It is possible to vote no, for anyone brave enough to walk to a special booth and cross out the name on the ballot.
But elections are a time when everyone is watching for acts of defiance. "There are consequences such as being politically criticised or restricted," said Mina Yoon, a defector who smuggled herself out of North Korea in 2011.
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