Many countries include ‘Democratic’ or ‘People’s’ in their names, even though they are not democratic and do not serve their people. Examples: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Lao People’s Democratic Republic People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Democratic Republic of the Congo And German Democratic Republic (East Side) in 1949–1990. None of these states are democratic, power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a small ruling elite. Who are they fooling with these names?
Opaque elections are a sign for information supression, but not the only sign.
However if I wanted North Korea to be considered democratic, I would first ask that voting be implemented such that voters can’t be identified and punished for voting against a candidate (source)
I have little reason to weigh in on the DPRK specifically because it makes no difference to my positions in practice. Even if retired US army lieutenant-colonel Roger Cavazos’ allegations are true, my stance is the same: just leave them alone.
The US government has a very long record of orchestrating regime change in countries across the globe, but I’m not familiar with any case where the result was actually an improvement for the people who live there. It’s also incredibly inconsistent and hypocritical for the US to take such an aggressive stance against the DPRK while buddying up to countries like Saudi Arabia which make absolutely zero pretence of being a democracy. If I were going to entertain the notion that US policy is in any way driven by benevolence and promoting democracy, then obviously step 1 would be to not actively give weapons and military support and even perform military attacks on behalf of a literal monarchy.
Why is it that the DPRK and Saudi Arabia are treated so differently? Because the Saudis provide the US with access to their country’s natural resources, while the DPRK doesn’t. This is a far more consistent through-line that explains US foreign policy much better than any concern with “human rights” or “promoting democracy.” When they do talk about promoting democracy, it’s opportunistic, it’s just because someone who is standing in the way of the expansion of the empire can plausibly be labeled as undemocratic.
Even in cases like Afghanistan, which is controlled by Al Qaida and clearly undemocratic, I see no reason to support sanctions or other forms of aggression towards them, because I have no interest in supporting imperialistic expansionism. If a country is just trying to be left alone, why would I support going there and fucking with it?