History of the Congresses of the Workers Party of Korea
⏱ Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
00:47 – 1946: First Congress
02:09 – 1948: Second Congress
03:25 – 1956: Third Congress
05:15 – 1961: Fourth Congress
06:25 – 1970: Fifth Congress
07:26 – 1980: Sixth Congress
08:32 – 2016: Seventh Congress
09:32 – Outro
Introduction
In August 1946, a group of 801 delegates from two of Korea's leading political parties met in Pyongyang to discuss the terms of merging into a united front. The meeting would last 3 days and result in the creation of the new Workers Party of North Korea, laterally becoming the Workers Party of Korea. This meeting would become the first workers party congress, the highest organ in the party structure and the most momentous event in the party calendar. Today, the congress convenes every 5 years and has steadily grown in size and scope since 1946, creating a rare opportunity to get a picture of the future direction of the country and the priorities of the leading party.
1946: First Congress
The first congress was held between the 28th and 30th of August 1946, just over a year since the liberation of Korea from the Japanese. 801 delegates representing over 300,000 combined members of the Korean Communist Party and the New People's Party met in Pyongyang to discuss their merging and elect officials of the first central committee. The first Congress was held very much in the spirit of national reconstruction and the need to begin to create the structure of an entirely new state after 35 years of Japanese occupation. Of the 801 delegates present, 36% had been imprisoned by the Japanese during the occupation and a further 53% had been living abroad in exile as the New People's Party and Korean Communist Party had acted as anti-Japanese activist groups during the 1930s and early 1940s. Beyond the merger itself, the first Congress also saw the two party newspapers merge to form Nong Shinman, still the official party paper today, and a discussion on the founding of the Workers Party of South Korea, a sister communist party to the South. With regard to party politics, the first central committee was elected, comprising of 43 voting members.
1948: Second Congress
2 years later, from the 27th of March to the 30th of March, 1948, the second Congress took place. This time in the leadup to the formal proclamation of the republic, which occurred later that same year in September. This time 990 delegates attended the conference, representing the ballooning numbers of the party [music] to 3/4 of a million members. As the division of Korea had become more concrete in the 3 years since liberation from Japan, this Congress was aimed at consolidating and affirming the structure of this young party as it prepared to take on the reigns of government in a new socialist republic. A major focus of the second Congress was the ongoing process of state control over key sectors of the economy and a review of the past 3 years of the so-called postJapanese democratization, dismantling the control structures of the previous Japanese administration and replacing them with a new socialist system of government. The Congress ended with the election of the second central committee itself expanding to 98 full voting members and 20 candidate members. Today we call these alternate members. They attend the central committee meetings but don't hold voting power.
1956: Third Congress
April 1956 brought with it a third Congress. By this time, the Workers Party of Korea had expanded to 1.1 million members represented at the Congress by 916 delegates and over 58,000 individual party cells, small party organizations in workplaces and neighborhoods. These figures indicate that around 10% of the national population was a party member by 1956. The meeting was also attended by Leonid Brev at the time a polit bureau member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Nungjun a marshall of the People's Republic of China. The third party Congress focused heavily on the national economic situation and reconstruction since the end of the Korean War 3 years earlier. Between 1954 and 1956, the government had implemented a Soviet style three-year plan for the economy and so used the third Congress to announce the implementation of a 5-year plan between 1956 and 1960. These plans are a common instrument in centrally planned economies, establishing output targets across key sectors like heavy industry, agriculture, transport, etc. allocating resources to certain sectors and setting out a broad strategy for the economy going forward. This first 5-year plan moved the priorities of the party away from the rebuilding of the past 3 years and onto a focus of food, housing, clothing, and other standard of living issues. It also planned for an increase in heavy industry output and grain production. Finally, the Congress reaffirmed Marxism Leninism as the guiding principle of the party and elected its third central committee with 71 full voting members and 45 candidate members. The fourth congress was held between the
1961: Fourth Congress
11th and 18th of September 1961 with 1,657 voting delegates and 73 non- voting delegates in attendance representing approximately 1.3 million party members. The Congress held the review of the outgoing third central committee and acknowledged the completion of the nationalization of key industries and the full collectivization of agriculture in the country. The Congress also introduced a new economic strategy, the 7-year plan with a large focus on heavy industry whilst also planning to simultaneously develop light industry and agriculture side by side. There was also a special focus given to the party's youth wing, the League of Socialist Working Youth, which was directed to train its members in line with the party so as to breed a new generation of future officials. In the sphere of foreign policy, [music] they made clear that the party and country would remain neutral during the ongoing Sino Soviet split between the USSR and China. The fourth central committee was elected with 85 full members and 50 candidate members.
1970: Fifth Congress
The fifth Congress of the Workers Party of Korea was held in November 1970 with 1,734 delegates attending, representing a record 1.6 million members of the party. It was this Congress meeting that first codified the three revolutions into the party line. A plan to modernize and energize the nation through three simultaneous revolutions in culture, technology, and ideology. You can find out more about that in my three-part series here. On the economy, a six-year plan was adopted with a view to boosting the machine building and chemical industries whilst also placing emphasis on the need to modernize the agricultural sector. On an ideological note, the Congress reaffirmed the party's policy was guided by the Duche ideology with less emphasis on Marxism Leninism. The fifth central committee was elected with 117 full members and 55 candidate members.
1980: Sixth Congress
The 10th to the 14th of October 1980 saw the sixth Congress take place with over 3,000 delegates present, 158 observing members and 117 foreign delegates in attendance. On the economic side, renewed stress was placed on the importance of the three revolutions movement and the party also acknowledged the new 7-year plan started in 1978 focusing on heavy industry and increasing electricity generation. The general Kim Jong-il first elected to the central committee and political committee at the 8th plenum in 1974 was reelected at the sixth congress in 1980. Following the congress, he was elected to the poll bureau, its precidium, and the central military commission, formalizing his position within the party's top leadership. The sixth central committee was elected with 145 full members and 103 candidate [music] members. Between 1980 and 2016, party political work was carried out through conferences and plenary meetings rather than through big congress events. However, May 2016
2016: Seventh Congress
saw the return of the Workers Party Congress with the 4-day 7th Congress, marking a return to a regular meeting now held every 5 years. Almost 3,500 delegates attended the seventh congress during which the country reaffirmed its status as a nuclear power deacto since its first nuclear test in 2006 [music] and also emphasized the ongoing Bongjin policy whereby the country would simultaneously develop the nuclear weapons program alongside the domestic economy. The seventh central committee was elected with 129 full members and 106 alternate members. In the next video, we'll take a look at what happened in 2021 at the eighth and most recent Congress, due to be reviewed at this year's 9th Congress, and the implications which have defined the past 5 years between 2021 and 2026.
Outro
If you want to keep up with the 9th Party Congress, keep an eye on DPRK Explained and this miniseries focused on the structure, history, and impact of this major event. For a full breakdown of what the Congress is, check out this video live now on the channel. And if you want to support DPRK Explained, please take a moment to check out our Patreon linked in the description.