Workers' Party of Korea

The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the sole ruling party of North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is the oldest active party in Korea. It also controls the Korean People's Army, North Korea's armed forces. The WPK is the largest party represented in the Supreme People's Assembly and coexists with two other legal parties that are completely subservient to the WPK and must accept the WPK's "leading role" as a condition of their existence. Kim Jong Un is the current party leader, serving as General Secretary of the WPK.

The North Korean Branch Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea (CPK) was founded in 1945. In 1946, it was briefly renamed to the Communist Party of North Korea, becoming independent of the CPK, and merged with the New People's Party of Korea in the same year to eventually form the Workers' Party of North Korea. In 1948, the WPNK founded North Korea. In 1949, WPNK merged with the Workers' Party of South Korea to form the Workers' Party of Korea. In 1950, WPK leader Kim Il Sung launched the Korean War, aiming to militarily unite Korea, but was deterred by American intervention. Kim Il Sung attempted to stay neutral during the Sino–Soviet split, while decreasing both Chinese and Soviet influence in the WPK. Kim Il Sung purged rival factions in the WPK in the 1950s and 1960s, while promoting his own cult of personality.

At the 6th WPK Congress in 1980, Kim Il Sung announced Kim Jong Il, his son, as his successor. Kim Il Sung died in 1994, leading Kim Jong Il to succeed him. Under Kim Jong Il, who governed as chairman of the National Defence Commission, communism was steadily removed from party and state documents in favor of Songun, or military-first politics. The military, rather than the working class, was established as the base of political power, and party institutions weakened. Kim Jong Il died in 2011, and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Un. Under his leadership, there has been a revival of the party institutions, as well as a decrease in the influence of the military. The fourth party conference, held in 2012, amended the party rules to state that Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism was "the only guiding idea of the party". In 2021, Kim Jong Un replaced Songun with "people-first politics" as the party's political method and reasserted the party's commitment to communism.

Officially, the WPK is a communist party guided by Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, a synthesis of the ideas of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. The party is committed to Juche, an ideology attributed to Kim Il Sung which promotes national independence and development through the efforts of the popular masses. Although Juche was originally presented as the Korean interpretation of Marxism–Leninism, the party now presents it as a freestanding philosophy. The WPK recognizes the ruling Kim family as the ultimate source of its political thought. The WPK is organized according to the Monolithic Ideological System, conceived by Kim Yong-ju and Kim Jong Il. The highest body of the WPK is formally the party congress; however, in practice the real power is concentrated in the current supreme leader. After the 4th Congress (1961), party congresses were held irregularly roughly once per decade. After the 6th Congress (1980), no Party Congress was held until the 7th Congress (2016) during Kim Jong Un's tenure. The WPK is banned in South Korea under the National Security Act and is sanctioned by the United Nations, the European Union, Australia, and the United States.