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General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
조선로동당 총비서
Emblem of the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
Incumbent Kim Jong Un since 11 April 2012
Workers' Party of Korea
Style	Comrade (동지) (formal)
Type	Party leader Supreme leader
Residence	Government Complex No. 1, Pyongyang
Seat	Pyongyang
Nominator	Party Congress
Appointer	Party Congress
Term length	Five years, life tenure
Constituting instrument	Rules of the Workers' Party of Korea
Inaugural holder	Kim Tu-bong
Formation	24 June 1949; 75 years ago (1949-06-24)
Deputy	Secretariat

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The general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (Korean: 조선로동당 총비서) is the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party in North Korea, and the country's supreme leader. Party rules stipulate that the party congress elects the general secretary. The party conference and the Central Committee are empowered to remove and elect the party leader. The general secretary is ex officio Chairman of the WPK Central Military Commission and leads the work of the secretariat. Additionally, the general secretary is by right of office member of the WPK Presidium, the WPK Politburo and the WPK Secretariat.

The office traces its lineage back to the reestablishment of the Communist Party of Korea (CPK) on 14 September 1945 when Pak Hon-yong was elected Chairman of the CPK Central Committee. Later on 13 October 1945 the CPK established an internal North Korean Branch Bureau (NKBB) and nominated Hyon Chun-hyok as branch secretary. Hyon Chun-hyok was assassinated on 3 September 1945 and Kim Yong-bom was elected as branch secretary in his place. On 10 April 1946 the NKBB became independent of the CPK and changed its name to Communist Party of North Korea (CPNK). Later that year, on 30 August, the CPNK merged with the New People's Party of Korea to establish the Workers' Party of North Korea (WPNK). Kim Tu-bong was elected WPNK Chairman by the 1st WPNK Central Committee. In the meantime the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) was established through the merger of the Communist Party of South Korea (led by Pak Hon-yong), New People's Party of Korea and a faction of the People's Party of Korea on 24 November 1946. The WPSK Central Committee elected Ho Hon as its party chairman. On the merger of the WPNK and the WPSK on 24 June 1949, the 2nd Central Committee elected Kim Il Sung as Chairman of the WPK Central Committee.

The offices of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the WPK Central Committee were abolished on 12 October 1966 and replaced with the offices of General Secretary and Secretary of the WPK Central Committee by a decision of the 14th Plenary Session of the 4th Central Committee. Kim Il Sung was elected and remained in office until his death on 8 July 1994. The post was abolished and replaced by the office of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea on 8 October 1997 after having been left vacant for 3 years and 92 days. Kim Jong Il was elected to the office by a joint announcement of the 6th Central Committee and the 6th Central Military Commission. Kim Jong Il remained in office until his death on 17 December 2011. The office of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea was left vacant for 116 days and was later abolished. Instead, Kim Jong Un was elected First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea on 11 April 2012, and his father, Kim Jong Il, was given the appellation "Eternal General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea". On 9 May 2016, the 7th WPK Congress abolished the office of First Secretary and the Secretariat and replaced it with Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and the office of Vice Chairman of the WPK Central Committee. A similar change took place at the 8th WPK Congress, where the offices of chairman and vice chairman were abolished and replaced by the office of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and the Secretariat.

Title history

Predecessors (1945–49)

National

No.	Portrait	Name	Hangul	Took office	Left office	Duration	Birth	Death	Ref.
1		Pak Hon-yong	박헌영	14 September 1945	10 April 1946	208 days	1900	1955

In the North

No.	Portrait	Name	Hangul	Took office	Left office	Duration	Birth	Death	Ref.
1		Kim Yong-bom	김용범	13 October 1945	18 December 1945	66 days	1902	1947
2		Kim Il Sung	김일성	18 December 1945	30 August 1946	255 days	1912	1994
3		Kim Tu-bong	김두봉	31 August 1946	24 June 1949	2 years and 297 days	1889	1958

In the South

No.	Portrait	Name	Hangul	Took office	Left office	Duration	Birth	Death	Ref.
1		Pak Hon-yong	박헌영	10 April 1946	24 November 1946	228 days	1900	1955
2		Ho Hon	허헌	24 November 1946	24 June 1949	2 years and 212 days	1885	1951

Leaders of the Workers' Party of Korea

By officeholders

No.	Portrait	Name	Hangul	Took office	Left office	Duration	Birth	Death	Ref.
1		Kim Il Sung	김일성	24 June 1949	8 July 1994	45 years and 14 days	1912	1994
2		Kim Jong Il	김정일	8 October 1997	17 December 2011	14 years and 70 days	1941	2011
3		Kim Jong Un	김정은	11 April 2012	Incumbent	12 years and 261 days	1983	—

By term

See also

• Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea
• Presidium of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea
• Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea

Notes

1. Kim Jong Un was leader of the WPK under the title of "First Secretary" from 11 April 2012 until 9 May 2016 and "Chairman" from 9 May 2016 until 10 January 2021.
2. ^ These numbers are not official.

References

Footnotes

1. Madden, Michael (2 February 2012). "4th Party Conference To Convene in "mid-April"". North Korea Leadership Watch. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
   Madden, Michael (15 August 2010). "Party Secretariat". North Korea Leadership Watch. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
2. ^ Suh 1981, p. 281.
3. Suh 1981, pp. 279–80.
4. Lee 1963, p. 5; Suh 1981, p. 280.
5. Suh 1981, p. 280.
6. Suh 1981, pp. 282–3.
7. Suh 1981, p. 283.
8. Suh 1981, p. 282.
9. ^ Suh 1981, p. 318.
10. ^ Suh 1981, p. 321.
11. ^ Suh 1981, p. 328.
12. Suh 1981, p. 328; Gause 2011, p. 18.
13. ^ Gause 2011, p. 18.
14. ^ Gause 2013, pp. 40–41.
15. ^ Madden, Michael (20 May 2016). "Deciphering the 7th Party Congress: A Teaser for Greater Change?". 38 North. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
16. ^ Frank, Rüdiger (19 January 2021). "Key Results of The Eighth Party Congress in North Korea (Part 2 of 2)". 38 North. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
17. Suh 1981, pp. 279–83.
18. Suh 1981, pp. 281–82.
19. Suh 1981, p. 316.
20. Suh 1981, p. 319.
21. Sang-Hun, Choe (11 April 2012). "As Rocket Launching Nears, North Korea Continues Shift to New' Supreme Leader'". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
22. Suh 1981, pp. 316–17.
23. Suh 1981, pp. 319–20.
24. Suh 1981, p. 322.
25. Suh 1981, p. 325.
26. Suh 1981, p. 332.

Bibliography

"Books:"

• Gause, Ken E. (2011). North Korea Under Kim Chong-il: Power, Politics, and Prospects for Change. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0313381751.
• Gause, Ken (2013). "The Role and Influence of the Party Apparatus". In Park, Kyung-ae; Snyder, Scott (eds.). North Korea in Transition: Politics, Economy, and Society. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 19–46. ISBN 978-1442218123.
• Suh, Dae-sook (1981). Korean Communism 1945–1980: A Reference Guide to the Political System (1st ed.). University Press of Hawaii. ISBN 0-8248-0740-5.

"Journal articles:"

• Chong-sik Lee (1963). "Politics in North Korea: Pre-Korean War Stage". The China Quarterly (14). Cambridge University Press on behalf of the School of Oriental and African Studies: 3–16. JSTOR 651339.

v t e Workers' Party of Korea
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Wider organisation	Rules Korean People's Army Socialist Patriotic Youth League Korean Children's Union Socialist Women's Union of Korea General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front
Ideology	Juche Songun Baekdu bloodline North Korean cult of personality Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System
Abolished organs	Chairman and Vice Chairman Control Commission Executive Policy Bureau Organisation Committee
Predecessors	Party Foundation Day Communist Party of Korea North Korean Branch Bureau / Communist Party of North Korea Workers' Party of North Korea Workers' Party of South Korea
Category

• Leaders of the Workers' Party of Korea and its predecessors
• Leaders of political parties in North Korea