The 1st Central Committee of the Workers' Party of North Korea (WPNK) () was elected by the 1st Congress on 30 August 1946 through the merger of the Communist Party of North Korea and the New People's Party of Korea, and remained in session until the election of the 2nd Central Committee on 30 March 1948. In between party congresses and specially convened conferences the Central Committee is the highest decision-making institution in the party and North Korea. The 1st Central Committee was not a permanent institution and delegated day-to-day work to elected central guidance bodies, such as the Political Committee, the Standing Committee and the Organisation Committee (membership not disclosed). It convened meetings, known as Plenary Sessions of the 1st Central Committee, to discuss major policies. A plenary session could be attended by non-members. These meetings are known as Enlarged Plenary Sessions. The party rules approved at the 1st Congress stipulated that the Central Committee needed to convene for a plenary session every third month. In total, the 1st Central Committee convened for twelve plenary sessions, of which eight were convened in 1947.
Forty-three members were elected to the 1st Central Committee, of which thirty-one were re-elected at the 2nd Congress. Its members convened for the 1st Plenary Session on 31 August 1946 and elected the 1st Organisation Committee, 1st Standing Committee and the 1st Political Committee, and voted in Kim Tu-bong as the WPNK Chairman and Kim Il Sung and Chu Yong-ha were elected vice chairmen. Despite their formal roles, real powers remained in Kim Il Sung's hands, and Kim Tu-bong played a more ceremonial role due to his unwillingness to partake in the day-to-day management of party affairs. In the 1st Plenary Session's aftermath, the party began establishing state structures known as provisional people's committees throughout the country, and in 1947 national elections to the People's Assembly was organised. At its first plenary session, the assembly elected a Presidium and designated Kim Tu-bong as its chairman and appointed the People's Committee (the government) and elected Kim Il Sung as its chairman. Of twenty-two government members, sixteen were members of the WPNK.
A feature of early North Korean politics was its factionalism. Four loosely defined factions had taken shape by this time; Kim Il Sung's partisans, domestic communists, the Yanan group and the Soviet Koreans. The partisans, comprising soldiers who had fought Japanese rule with Kim Il Sung, lacked both theoretical and organisational experience to take leading party offices. They were therefore poorly represented in the 1st Central Committee. The domestic faction, composed of indigenous communists and leading members of the Workers' Party of South Korea, were underrepresented due to their underground activities in South Korea. Korean revolutionaries based in China during Japanese rule, known as the Yanan faction, had the most representation on the committee. The Soviet Koreans, composed of Koreans who were either Soviet-born or lived there during Japanese rule, also had significant representation. The conflict between these factions would intensify over the years, with Soviet Korean Yu Song-gol stating that he "as early as 1947... overheard how former partisans not only mentioned the [Yanans] and 'Soviets' with a great deal of animosity but also expressed the desire to be rid of them in due course." These factional conflicts were rarely based on policy differences but rather on personal interests and the struggle for power. Scholar Andrey Lankov notes that "at least [twenty-eight] members" of the 1st Central Committee "became victims of Kim Il Sung's purges. The real number was probably even higher since, in many cases, purges were not made public."
A conflict between Kim Il Sung's partisan faction and Pak Hon-yong's domestic faction had been brewing since the North Korean Branch Bureau's formation in October 1945. The leading domestic communist in the North, O Ki-sop, was accused of making "leftist and rightist errors" at the 3rd Enlarged Plenary Session. Vice Chairman Chu Yong-ha further elaborated on the criticism and claimed that "O had attempted to apply labour union principles under capitalism to the socialist setting of North Korea, thereby deliberately inciting unthinking workers." O Ki-sop defended himself by citing the works of Vladimir Lenin and claimed that "[if I am such] a pain in the neck then why not just pin the label of Trotskyite on [me]?" While Pak Il-u supposedly rose in his defence and called for a committee to study the Lenin work in question, Kim Il Sung stated that no such committee was necessary due to O Ki-sop's past mistakes. The criticism of O Ki-sop and the attacks on the indigenous North Korean communist movement that had remained active in Korea during Japanese colonialism were supported by the partisans, Soviet Koreans and the Yanans.
Plenary sessions + Plenary sessions of the 1st Central Committee Plenum Date Length Agenda 1st Plenary Session 31 August 1946 1 day Elections of the officers and apparatus heads of the 1st Central Committee. 2nd Enlarged Plenary Session 25 September 1946 1 day Report by Kim Il Sung on the election to the People's Committee. 3rd Enlarged Plenary Session 25 November 1946 1 day Debate on the party's present tasks. Debate on the elections held on 3 November. Concerning the strengthening of the party's organisation and political educational projects. 4th Enlarged Plenary Session 2 February 1947 1 day Debate on the election of the people's committees at the myon and ri administrative levels. 5th Plenary Session Not made public Not made public Not made public 6th Enlarged Plenary Session 15 March 1947 1 day Report by Kim Il Sung on party work to realise economic reconstruction and development. Debate on the party's duty to strengthen the people's rights. Report concerning the grave errors of some party organisations in some party projects. 7th Enlarged Plenary Session 16 June 1947 1 day Debate on participating in and cooperating with the US–Soviet Joint Commission on Korea on establishing an interim Korean government. Election of a representative to the US–Soviet Joint Commission. Kim Il Sung was elected the Representative to the US–Soviet Joint Commission Election of an ad hoc committee to respond to the US–Soviet Joint Commission's questionnaires. 8th Plenary Session 1 July 1947 1 day Debate on the US–Soviet Joint Commission on Korea resolutions. Approving the reply on Article 5 and Article 6 in the "Organizations of the Interim Government" of the US–Soviet Joint Commission. 9th Plenary Session Not made public Not made public Not made public 10th Plenary Session 13 September 1947 1 day Discussion on the role of the party leadership in projects of the mass organisations. 11th Plenary Session 23 December 1947 1 day On projects concerning every party leading organ. Discussion on the gathering of the 2nd Congress. Election of a bylaw draft committee to amend the party platform and rules. Concerning the policy of realising the first and fourth periods of the 1948 economic plan. Concerning organisational problems. 12th Plenary Session 9 February 1948 1 day Report by Kim Il Sung on every party organisation's responsibility to realise the 1948 economic plan. Debate on the draft of the interim constitution of Korea. Debate on postponing the 2nd Congress.
Members +Members of the 1st Central Committee This reference informs on the composition of the People's Committee, the provisional government of North Korea 1946–8, and those that held government offices within it. Rank Name Korean 2nd CC Inner-composition Background 1st POC 1st STC 1 Kim Tu-bong 김두봉 Member Member Yanan 2 Kim Il Sung 김일성 Member Member Partisan 3 Chu Yong-ha 주영하 Member Member Domestic 4 Choe Chang-ik 최창익 Member Member Yanan 5 Ho Ka-i 허가이 Member Member Soviet 6 Kim Chang-man 김창만 — Member Yanan 7 Ho Jong-suk 허정숙 — — Yanan 8 Kim Yong-tae 김용태 — — Domestic 9 Pak Chang-sik 박창식 — Member Soviet 10 Pak Chong-ae 박정애 — Member Domestic 11 Kim Chaek 김책 — Member Partisan 12 Mu Chuong 무정 — — Yanan 13 Yi Chun-am 이춘암 — — Yanan 14 An Kil 안길 — — Partisan 15 Kim Ye-pil 김예필 — — Yanan 16 Kim Il 김일 — Member Partisan 17 Pak Hyo-sam 박효삼 — Member Yanan 18 Chang Sun-myong 장선명 — — Soviet 19 Kim Yol 김열 — — Soviet 20 Kim Chae-uk 김채욱 — Member Soviet 21 윤공흠 — — Yan'an 22 Han Il-mu 한일무 — — Soviet 23 Tae Song-su 태성수 — — Soviet 24 Han Sol-ya 한설야 — — Soviet 25 Choe Kyong-dok 최경덕 — — Domestic 26 Kang Chin-gon 강진곤 — — Domestic 27 Chang Si-u 장시우 — — Domestic 28 Chong Tu-hyon 정두현 — — Domestic 29 Yim To-jun 임도준 — — — 30 Yim Hae 임해 — — Partisan 31 O Ki-sop 오기섭 — — Domestic 32 Kim Uk-chin 김욱진 — — Domestic 33 Yi Sun-gun 이순금 — — Domestic 34 Kim Kyo-yong 김교용 — — Partisan 35 Myong Hi-jo 명희조 — — Yanan 36 Han Pin 한빈 — — Yanan 37 Yi Chong-ik 이종익 — — — 38 Chon Song-hwa 전송화 — — Soviet 39 Kim Wol-song 김월송 — — Domestic 40 Chang Chong-sik 장종식 — — Domestic 41 Kim Min-san 김민산 — — — 42 Pak Hun-il 박헌일 — — Yanan 43 Pak Il-u 박일우 — Member Yanan
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