The Foundation of the North Korean Workers’ Party: Analyzing Russian Archival Materials

Abstract

This paper examines the background of the founding of the Workers`` Party of North Korea (WPNK) through the merger of the North Korean Communist Party and the New Democratic Party, as well as the role of the former Soviet Union in this merger and the orientation and characteristics of the WPNK Programme, which has remained unexamined in research on North Korea. While the foundation of the WPNK reflected Stalin``s desire to unify leftist parties in North and South Korea, other domestic factors also facilitated its establishment, such as the necessity for unity among leftist forces and power struggles among local organizations of the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party. One of the goals of the merger was to create a popular vanguard party, rather than merely a united leftist one. The Party Programme did not specify a socialist direction and downplayed the unique ideology of the Communist Party. This tendency was strengthened by the increasing need for internal unity as violent confrontation developed between leftist and rightist forces when the United States and the Soviet Union occupied the Korean Peninsula. Only after its establishment, did the WPNK begin to expand its exclusive rights among political organizations in North Korea.