Korea, North

THE KOREAN WORKERS' Party (Chosun Nodong Dang) is the political party that controls North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Chosun Minjujui Kongwaguk). It was established in August 1946 from three groups of communists who had fought against the Japanese. Korean communists who had been in the Soviet Union during World War II composed the first group. Most of these had been in the Soviet Maritime Province along the Manchurian and Korean border. Another faction was close to the Chinese Communists. The third faction's members were resistance fighters who had fought the Japanese troops in Korea.

When the Korean Workers' Party was organized, it was modeled after the Soviet Communist Party. Many of the most prominent members of the party had been ...