December 27 – Day of the Constitution in North Korea

nPosted on December 27, 2019

Key Points

nWay back when, most nations didn’t have a constitution – which is written set of principles and an outline of institutions and their powers, upon which a nation’s government is organized.

nInstead, most nations were ruled by monarchs of some sort – kings, emperors, tzars, princes, pharaohs – who could create and eliminate laws at whim; who could start wars, imprison enemies, give people rights – or take people’s “rights” away.

nEven now, more than a handful of nations (I believe 7) have powerful monarchs (as opposed to a largely symbolic monarch plus a constitution outlining governmental structures and powers, like Britain and the Netherlands). The modern nations that have absolute monarchs include Brunei, Swaziland (actually, the monarch changed the nation’s name to Eswatini in 2018), and Saudi Arabia.
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nSome nations that do have constitutions outline democratic, representative governments with checks and balances among various branches of the government – but those democratic principles and checks and balances turn out to be “on paper” only. In reality, a dictator utilizes democratic elections to attain power but then subverts the language and appearance of democracy as they maintain power and eventually abuse power. An example of this is Nicaragua.

nIn the case of North Korea, the constitution itself outlines a ton of power for the supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, and the preamble of the constitution enshrines him (and his father before him) as the eternal leader of the nation!
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nThe North Korean constitution isn’t necessarily the supreme law of the land, however; a document called Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System governs the nation even more, at least according to some experts. The title of that document is SUPER scary!
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nI wish North Koreans could enjoy an open, free nation that is ruled by democratic principles, that enshrines human rights rather than a “dear leader,” and seeks liberty and justice FOR ALL.

n(Of course, to be honest, I’d like to live in such a nation, too, and my nation – the U.S. – has been looking very scary in the democracy and rule-of-law categories for a while, now, and hasn’t ever come close to justice for all, either, despite our fine rhetoric. How about your nation? Let’s all work on living up to our finest goals!)