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National meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea

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National meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea

The following is a list of national meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea. This article defines national meetings as party congresses (Korean: 조선로동당 당대회) and conferences of representatives. The party congress is nominally the highest body of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) according to it's charter. The charter states specificially that it should convene at least every fifth year, however, the congress has never managed to be convened in that time frame. There was a gap of 36 years between the 6th Congress and the 7th Congress. However, two party conferences were convened in the period 2010–2012.

The Congress hears the reports of central authorities, makes amendments to the party's charter, sets the party's political line, and elects the Central Committee. The 1st Plenary Session of the elected Central Committee then elects the Politburo, the First Secretary and other bodies of the Central Committee. Despite this, as Fyodor Tertitskiy notes, "When it comes to the supreme leader of North Korea, it is not his position that makes him a leader, it is the person who makes a position one of leadership. Kim Jong-un may be called supreme commander, first chairman or even God-Emperor – it does not matter, he is in charge by right of bloodline." His election as Chairman, and other posts, at the 7th Party Congress (or elections to offices at other meetings) does not mean the meeting was empowered to make decisions independent of the leader.

References

National meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea Wikipedia