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The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK)[note 1] is the foundational political party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and the largest party represented in the known as the Supreme People's Assembly (although the country's elections are widely considered to be fraudulent and the SPA a rubber stamp body with no real political power). The WPK is the sole governing party of North Korea, although it nominally coexists de jure with two other legal parties making up the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, which is regarded as merely a means to appear superficially democratic to citizens and foreigners. It was founded in 1949 with the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea.
The WPK is organized according to the Monolithic Ideological System and the Great Leader, a system and theory conceived by Kim Yong-ju and Kim Jong-il. The highest body of the WPK is formally the Congress; however, in practice a Congress occurs infrequently. Between 1980 and 2016, there were no congresses held. Although the WPK is, in theory, organizationally similar to other communist parties, in practice it is far less institutionalized and informal politics plays a larger role than usual. Institutions such as the Central Committee, the Executive Policy Bureau, the Central Military Commission (CMC), the Politburo and the Presidium have much less power than that formally bestowed on them by the party's charter, which is little more than a nominal document. Kim Jong-un is the current WPK leader, serving as First Secretary and CMC chairman.
The WPK is organized according to the Monolithic Ideological System and the Great Leader, a system and theory conceived by Kim Yong-ju and Kim Jong-il. The highest body of the WPK is formally the Congress; however, in practice a Congress occurs infrequently. Between 1980 and 2016, there were no congresses held. Although the WPK is, in theory, organizationally similar to other communist parties, in practice it is far less institutionalized and informal politics plays a larger role than usual. Institutions such as the Central Committee, the Executive Policy Bureau, the Central Military Commission (CMC), the Politburo and the Presidium have much less power than that formally bestowed on them by the party's charter, which is little more than a nominal document. Kim Jong-un is the current WPK leader, serving as First Secretary and CMC chairman.
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