First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea

First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea

Flag of the Workers' Party of Korea
Incumbent
Kim Jong-un
since 11 April 2012
Appointer Central Committee and the Central Military Commission or party conference
Term length None
Formation 11 April 2012
First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
Chosŏn'gŭl 조선로동당 제1비서
Hancha 朝鮮勞動黨第一秘書
Revised Romanization Joseon Rodongdang Jeilbiseo
McCune–Reischauer Chosŏn Rodongdang Che'ilbisŏ
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
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First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea is the title given to the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea.

From 1946 to 1966, the party′s leader was called Chairman of the Central Committee. Since 1966, the year the 2nd Party Conference reformed the structure of the Party, the Central Committee, usually at its first plenum after a party congress, elected a leader called the General Secretary of the Central Committee; the post was held by Kim Il-sung from 1966 to 1994, the year of his demise. Although the Party Rules stipulated that the party leader was to be elected by the Central Committee, Kim Jong-il was proclaimed General Secretary of the Party (not "of the Central Committee") by a joint notice of the Central Committee and Central Military Commission on 8 October 1997 following resolutions proposing Kim Jong-il's election adopted by the provincial Party organizations; he was then re-elected directly by the 3rd Party Conference in September 2010.

The 2012 Party Conference "decided to hold Kim Jong Il … in high esteem as eternal general secretary of the WPK …"[1] and therefore elected the new leader Kim Jong-un First Secretary of the WPK (again not "of the Central Committee").

Officeholders

Name
(birth–death)		 Portrait Took office Left office
Chairman of the Central Committee
(1946–1966)
Kim Tu-bong
(1886–1957?)		 28 August 1946 30 June 1949
Kim Il-sung
(1912–1994)		 30 June 1949 11 October 1966
General Secretary of the Central Committee
(1966–1994)
Kim Il-sung
(1912–1994)		 11 October 1966 8 July 1994
General Secretary of the Party
(1997–2011)
Kim Jong-il
(1941/1942–2011)		 8 October 1997 17 December 2011
First Secretary of the Party
(2012–present)
Kim Jong-un
(born 1983)		 11 April 2012 Incumbent

Sources

  1. ↑ KCNA, April 11, 2012: WPK Conference Decides to Hold Kim Jong Il in High Esteem as Eternal General Secretary of WPK (Urgent)

Further reading

Kim Jong-un (April 6, 2012). Let Us Brilliantly Accomplish the Revolutionary Cause of Juche, Holding Kim Jong Il in High Esteem as the Eternal General Secretary of Our Party.