Workers' Party of Korea - Structure

Structure

See also: Politics of North Korea and Central_Committee_of_the_Workers'_Party_of_Korea#Central_Departments

As apparent from the history of the WPK, the formal structure of the party has little relevance to the actual system of government in the DPRK. In theory, the national party congress is the supreme party organ. The party congress approves reports of the party organs, adopts basic party policies and tactics, and elects members to the WPK Central Committee and the Central Auditing Committee. In practice, the members of all these bodies are chosen by Kim Jong-un and his few trusted lieutenants, and in any case they exercise no real power. Technically, the WPK is a coequal member with two other parties in the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. However, the WPK holds all but a very few seats in the government. All candidates run unopposed and are elected unanimously.

In September 1992, the WPK had 160 Central Committee members and 143 Central Committee alternate (candidate) members. The Central Committee meets at least once every six months, although no meeting at all was held between December 1993 and September 2010. Article 24 of the party rules, as amended in 2012, stipulates that the Central Committee elects the First Secretary of the party, members of the Political Bureau Presidium (or the Standing Committee), members of the Political Bureau (or Politburo), secretaries, members of the Central Military Commission, and members of the Central Inspection Committee. A party congress was supposed to be convened every five years, but none has been held since the Sixth Party Congress of October 1980; in 2010 the Party Rules were amended deleting that clause.

Membership of the WPK is essential for any DPRK citizen who aspires to a post of any seniority in any government, management, educational or cultural institution, since all these bodies act as "conveyor belts" for party rule over all aspects of DPRK life and effectively creates a nomenklatura within society. All senior military officers must also be WPK members.

Since the 2010 3rd Party Conference, the party also has a Central Auditing Commission.

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