Surprising omission from ballot papers in North Korean election

KIM JONG-UN was not on the list of 687 candidates elected to the North Korean parliament in Sunday’s election, state media announced yesterday, although his sister was voted into the rubber-stamp parliament.

No reason has been given for Kim’s absence from the ballot, five years after he was elected in the previous vote as head of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

Every candidate who did run in the election was returned with 100 per cent of the vote in their constituencies, including Kim Yo-jung, Kim’s younger sister, who previously worked in the government’s propaganda division but has more recently taken on the management of his day-to-day schedule.

“North Korean elections have no meaning anyway, but this is designed to show that Kim feels himself to be above those who were elected”, said Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, who specialises in North Korea’s leadership at Waseda University, Tokyo. “This will not affect his control of the party or the nation, but it is meant to show that he’s a better leader than his own father and Kim Il-sung, his grandfather and the founder of North Korea,” he added.

Fully 99.99 per cent of all eligible voters had exercised their democratic right to select their leaders, KCNA reported, with citizens serving at sea excused the obligation to vote.

The results of the election were never in any doubt – each ballot paper only has one name and anyone wanting to vote against the approved candidate has to enter a special booth and put a cross through the name. Defectors say Kim’s standing has been damaged by his failure to win concessions on sanctions at the recent Hanoi summit with Donald Trump.

“Mr Kim expected a lot from this summit”, said Lee Ae-ran, who fled North Korea with her family in 1997 but retains contacts there as president of The Centre for Liberty and Reunification.

“It was more than simply relief from the sanctions; he believed a victory would earn him more support from the people, enabling him to tighten his control ... even more”.

While discontent was never going to be reflected in the election, Mrs Lee says it is not far beneath the surface.

“The sanctions are causing the economic devastation to spread in the North and people are struggling to overcome the terrible shortage of food”, she said. “I believe the grudges they hold towards Kim could worsen and possibly even explode.”