Korean Workers’ Party

Korean Workers’ Party (KWP), North Korean political party that from its foundation (1946) in the early years of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was the state’s primary agency of political power. According to the country’s constitution as amended in 1998, “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea shall conduct all activities under the leadership of the Workers’ Party.”

History

In 1945, as World War II wound down and Korea—which had been under Japanese control for some four decades—struggled to reestablish itself as an independent country, a political split emerged between the northern, Soviet-occupied portion and the southern, U.S.-occupied portion of the Korean peninsula. Kim Il-Sung, a longtime guerrilla fighter against the Japanese who had been training with the Soviet army, returned to the northern portion that year, and he and the nascent North Korean government subsequently established the Korean Workers’ Party (August 1946). It quickly became the unquestioned dominant force in the political life of the north.

Until his death in July 1994, Kim held all key KWP party positions, including general secretary and chairman of the Central Military Commission, which controls the party’s military policy and the development of the defense industry. He was also a member of the standing committee of the Political Bureau (Politburo). After his death the country’s leadership passed to his son and designated successor, Kim Jong Il. Although the younger Kim assumed his father’s duties, a period of mourning elapsed before his official appointment as general secretary of the KWP in 1997. After Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011 and the elevation of his son Kim Jong-Un as North Korea’s leader, the late Kim was enshrined as “eternal general secretary” of the KWP. The title of first secretary was created for his son, who became the party’s head.

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Policy and structure

The KWP’s highest authority is the party congress, led by an elected Central Committee. Party congresses are to be held every five years, although in practice this rule was observed only through the Fifth Party Congress (1970); a Sixth Party Congress was held a decade later, but a seventh was not convened until 2016, under Kim Jong-Un. Party policy is directed by its Political Bureau. The KWP controls the electoral system and draws up lists of approved candidates. A number of other nominal political parties and social organizations serve to support the KWP, but all political activities are directed by the KWP or require its sanction and must closely follow the party line and policies.

Party membership is technically open to all. In practice, however, members must meet standards of “reliability,” such as political loyalty and class origin, The largest portion of the party’s membership is made up of industrial workers, followed by peasants and “intellectuals” (office workers). Applicants must demonstrate their qualifications and be endorsed by two party members who have maintained good standing for two years. KWP members are among the country’s elite and receive special consideration in the allocation of housing, education, and food.

The primacy of the KWP was believed to have slipped somewhat starting in the late 1990s as Kim Jong Il instituted a sŏngun (“military first”) policy that increased the military’s importance relative to the party. The KWP, however, continued to hold authority over mass organizations of various civilian groups, such as youth, farmers, and workers, and remained ultimately—although not always directly—in control of all economic activities in the country.