Rules of the Workers' Party of Korea

The rules, commonly known as the "Rules and Constitution", contains the party's by-laws. The rules outlines the character, task and methodology of the Worker's Party. It sets communism across the whole Korean Peninsula as the goal of the party. According to the rules, the party "represents the interests of the Korean nation and people", and its immediate task is "to attain a perfect victory of socialism in the northern part and to complete the revolutionary tasks of achieving national liberation and the people's democracy through the country." This task is to be achieved by "perform[ing] the revolution and construction tasks under the sole leader's exclusive guidance, applying his revolutionary ideology as [the] guideline". The rules stipulates that the party guides all state and social organs in North Korea. The rules sets the rules on the organization of the party and its membership. It stipulates that the Congress is the highest body of the party. The rules says that when the Congress is not in session, the party is run by the Central Committee. According to the rules, the Central Committee elects the General Secretary of the party, members of the Politburo, its Presidium, the Executive Policy Bureau, members of the Control Commission, and members of the Central Military Commission (CMC). ==Implementation==

Although the rules is the party's highest document de jure, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il breached party protocol during their rule by not convening party Congresses or Central Committee plenums. ==History==

The first rules was adopted on 30 August 1946 in the 1st Congress of the Workers' Party of North Korea, the immediate predecessor of the present WPK. The 2nd Congress revised it on 30 March 1948, and the 3rd Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea made extensive revisions to it in April 1956. The 4th Congress amended it on 18 September 1961, and the 5th Congress on 13 November 1970. The 6th Congress revised it on 10 October 1980. The 1990s (especially after Kim Il Sung's death) began a period in which any pretense of following the rules was dropped. No Central Committee plenums were convened between 1993 and 2010, even though the rules mandated one to be held at least every six months. As consequence, the composition of the CC at that time remained only an estimate. It was not known which members of the 6th CC were active or even alive. to require the party's First Secretary to also hold the office of Chairman of the party's Central Military Commission. This was to ensure Kim Jong Un's succession of his father, Kim Jong Il, by guaranteeing that he inherits the top posts in not just the party but the army as well. Although a congress was formerly mandated to be convened every five years, the 3rd Conference revised the party rules to state that the Central Committee could convene a congress as desired with six months' notice to the party. This, too, was done in preparation for Kim Jong Un's succession, allowing the Kim dynasty to pick the date freely. Two new articles were added: "The Party and the People's Power" and "The Party Logo and Flag of Party". 4th party Conference Ideology was elaborated at the 4th party Conference in 2012, when Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism became "the only guiding idea of the party" in the rules. 7th party Congress At the 7th party Congress on 9 May 2016, the rules was amended "as required by the developing reality." The dual-track policy of pursuing both economic growth and nuclear weapons capacity was added to the Charter. Secretary titles were made Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen in both the central and municipal levels. The Secretariat was named the Executive Policy Bureau. The First Secretary of the party became Chairman of the Workers' Party. The amendments included the incorporation of the five-point Party-building line in the new era. ==See also==