Politics
Map
East Asia
Your Guides
Ni hao! I’m Ping and this is my best friend Xiongmao. Let’s tour East Asia, our home.
In school we learn that politics in East Asia are quite different from country to country, but there’s one thing that many East Asian countries have in common: they’ve gone through big changes in their political systems over the past century that have caused problems which take a long time to solve.
North Korea
This country is just one example of these big changes and big problems in action.
North Korea used to be a dictatorship, which means that the leader of the country made all the decisions and there weren’t votes on any issues at all.
Now North Korea is officially a democracy, which means that everyone gets to vote for the person who leads and this person is supposed to make decisions that reflect what most people want. North Korea has regular elections, but there’s only one political party, which means that voters don’t actually have any choice at all. They have to vote for the only person on the ballot.
Other East Asian countries including Vietnam and China have similar single-party elections.
Women in East Asian Politics
Women don’t get the same respect as leaders that men do in East Asia, so there aren’t a lot of women in politics. There are a few female politicians who have fought to get elected and are now working hard for women’s rights. One example is Taiwan’s current Vice President, Annette Lu, who has said she might even run for president one day.