North Korea and Cuba are two of the five current communist ruling states, also known as the Ruling parties of Socialist states. North Korea is under the rule of Kim Jung Il, a strong communist leader since 1994. He succeeded his father, Kim Il- Sung, when he died in 1994 after his rule for 50 years of communism. Cuba is ruled by Fidel Castro, who overthrew Fulgencio Batista in 1959 during the Cuban revolution. Castro has been president since 1976 and still hold strong to his communistic ways. Both countries have held a communist party in control for more than 50 years, Cuba starting in the Early 1920's and North Korea in the late 1940's. Therefore they have entire generations of families that have lived in a socialistic/communist way of governing. Consequently, many similarities and differences exsist within the goverenment, its people, the culture, economics, and foreign relations.( Malici)
Cuba's communist party, also known as the Communist Party of Cuba, is currently the only political party permitted to assemble or engage in any political activity in Cuba. It operates on a Marxist-Leninist model. The present Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state". North Korea's communist party, known as the ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It is also called the Korean Workers' Party (KWP). The KWP has been the ruling party in North Korea since 1948, and has had only two leaders, Kim Il-sung (1945-1994) and his son, Kim Jong-il (since 1997, when he officially took over as general secretary). The party is widely viewed by foreigners as Stalinist and is the closest thing to a traditional Stalinist ruling party in the world today. However, the WPK claims to have its own distinct ideology (Juche),or self-reliance, which it considers to be superior to Marxism-Leninism. Though both countries are communist and follow traditional