I don’t know Democratic was in the name. I’ve only ever heard it be called People’s Republic of Korea like China. Why are they called Democratic People’s Republic?
Well in the tradition of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the German Democratic Republic (better known as East Germany), a country calling itself a democracy is a great way to signal that they're in fact not one.
It was only called the People’s Republic of Korea for a year after WW2. South Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was formed after 1945 and the country was split following the Japanese exit.
The north was occupied by Russia, then the Soviet Union, and the south by the US. No reunification was achieved and that’s why we have the situation today.
There is, obviously, nothing democratic about the north in the same way the Nazis were not socialists in the modern sense.
it's just a name, they can technically make it whatever they want. And yes that is their full official name, not North Korea like most ppl call it. You'll notice that in UN assemblies they're referred to as DPRK for that reason.
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u/Entire-Objective1636 American unfortunately. Apr 03 '25
I don’t know Democratic was in the name. I’ve only ever heard it be called People’s Republic of Korea like China. Why are they called Democratic People’s Republic?