I see the point being treaded all over the place. Father, son, and grandson have run the country for 70+ years, yet I keep seeing people refer to N. Korea as a democracy. Is this ironic joke memes, or just something going over my head?
Neither is any leader in the DPRK. The people there just really like the Kims for their relationship to Kim Il sung. They’re accountable to the people via the same political institutions as every other politician there, like being subject to recall elections if they get sick of them. It seems weird to us but it really is just a cultural thing.