User blog comment:Scrawland Scribblescratch/From Louis XIV to Palpatine: Absolute Leadership/@comment-4621372-20120918183121/@comment-32656-20120918213001

NK doesn't elect the leader - officially, the leader is chosen by their "Parliament," in a vote, to rule absolute. And it's done by bloodline.

Heck, the Scandinavian countries technically do this for each new monarch. You could even say that on some tiny level, it is done each time a Parliament meets in the name of a monarch, even if no such confirmations ever occur.

Dictators aren't necessarily monarchs - and vice-versa. The Kims, however, and despite their claims, are both.