Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea

39°0′57″N 125°44′26″E / 39.01583°N 125.74056°E / 39.01583; 125.74056

Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea 조선로동당 중앙위원회
8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea
Seal used by the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (c.1982)
Overview
Type	Highest decision-making organ when Congress is not in session.
Elected by	Congress
Length of term	Five years
Term limits	None
History
Established	by 1st Congress on 30 August 1946; 77 years ago (1946-08-30)
First convocation	31 August 1946
Leadership
General Secretary	Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Party
Executive organ	Politburo
Administrative organ	Secretariat
Military organ	Central Military Commission
Members
Total	139
Alternates
Total	111
Elections
Last election	8th Congress (2021)
Meeting place
The Central Committee Building in Pyongyang, North Korea
Constitution
Rules of the Workers' Party of Korea

The Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea is the highest organ between national meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party of North Korea. According to WPK rules, the Central Committee is elected by the party congress and the party conference can be conferred the right to renew its membership composition. In practice, the Central Committee has the ability to dismiss and appoint new members without consulting with the wider party at its own plenary sessions.

The 1st Central Committee was elected at the 1st WPK Congress in 1946. It was composed of 43 members. The numbers of Central Committee members have increased since then, with the 7th Congress in 2017 electing 235 members. Non-voting members, officially referred to as alternate members at the present, was introduced at the 2nd Congress.

The Central Committee convenes at least once a year for a plenary session ("meeting"), and shall function as a top forum for discussion about relevant policy issues. It operates on the principle of the Monolithic Ideological System and the Great Leader theory. The role of the Central Committee has varied throughout history. In its early history until the August Faction Incident it was a forum in which different factions competed. Since then, it has generally exercised power through formal procedures defined in the party rules. However, its actual ability to affect outcomes of national-level personnel decisions is non-existent, as that function has generally been, in practice, carried out by the Kim family and the Politburo. Nonetheless, Central Committee plenums function as venues whereby policy is formally implemented, and public announcements made. Decisions are released publicly in the form of "resolutions" or "decisions".