The Rules of the Workers' Party of Korea () are the by-laws of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). It sets the rules of the organization and membership of the party. According to the rules, the WPK Congress is the highest body of the party and it, along with the WPK Conference, can amend the rules. The rules defines the character, task, and methodology of the party. According to it, the Party strives to impose communism on the whole of the Korean Peninsula. Recent revisions of the rules have defined Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism as the ideology of the party.
The first rules were adopted on 30 August 1946 at the 1st Congress of the Workers' Party of North Korea, the immediate predecessor of the modern WPK. Since then, every Conference and some Congresses have revised the rules, most recently the 7th Congress in 2016.
Since the death of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong Il's accession to the leadership of the country, the rules has not been adhered to by the party. After the 6th Congress in 1980, Congresses were no longer held every five years as stipulated by the rules. Neither were plenums of the Central Committee held at regular six month intervals. Kim Jong Il was also elected General Secretary of the party without observing the correct procedure. In preparation of Kim Jong Un's succession, the 3rd Conference in 2010 revised the rules to ensure that he would secure leadership in both the party and the army at the same time. Changes were also made to allow the Kim dynasty to pick a dates for Congresses freely. Such a Congress, 8th party Congress, amended the rules by giving Kim Jong Un the title General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea in January 2021.
Purpose
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).
The rules can be amended by a Congress or a Conference of the party. The Control Commission theoretically probes suspected violations of the rules by party members. However, the rules is, in fact, an essentially meaningless document for much of its existence, since there is no oversight of central-level compliance. Despite this, NK News has called the party rules "one of the most important texts in North Korea's political system".
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. The Central Committee is not a permanent body; it must convene, according to the party's rules, at least once every six months. The Central Committee is, according to the party's rules, elected by delegates to a party congress; in practice, however, this has not been the case.
According to Article 27 of the rules, the Central Military Commission (CMC) is the highest party body in military affairs; it commands the Korean People's Army, developing and guiding its weaponry. In practice, however, the CMC is a ceremonial body subordinate to the National Defence Commission. A 1982 amendment to the rules is believed to have made the CMC equal to the Central Committee, enabling it (among other things) to elect the party leader.
Although the party rules specifies that the Politburo should meet at least once a month, there is little evidence that this has actually happened.
In 2010 the rule that Congresses be held every five years was dropped, recognising this had been ignored for thirty years.