1st Congress of the Workers' Party of North Korea
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| Date | 28–30 August 1946 (3 days) |
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| Location | Pyongyang, North Korea |
| Participants | 801 delegates |
| Outcome | Election of the 1st Central Committee and 1st Central Inspection Commission |
The 1st Congress of the Workers' Party of North Korea (WPNK) was held in Pyongyang, North Korea, from 28–30 August 1946, and established the WPNK (the forerunner to the Workers' Party of Korea). The congress is the highest organ of the party, and is stipulated to be held every four years. A total of 801 delegates represented the party's 336,399 members. The 1st Central Committee, elected by the congress, elected Kim Tu-bong as WPNK Chairman, Kim Il-sung and Chu Yong-ha as deputy chairmen.
Elected by the party's provincial apparatus, 801 delegates represented 336,399 party members at the congress. Of the delegates, 229 were in their twenties, 417 in their thirties, 129 delegates in their forties, and 26 delegates in their fifties or above. By occupation, 183 of the delegates were classified by the central party apparatus as workers, 157 as peasants, 385 as office workers, and 76 were left unclassified. The majority (359) of the delegates had only high school education, while 228 had only primary education and 214 had college education or above. During Japanese rule, 291 delegates (36 percent) had been imprisoned, while 427 delegates (53 percent) had stayed abroad during Japanese rule.
The 1st session was presided over by Kim Il-sung (the former chairman of the Communist Party of North Korea), and lasted for three hours. The first order of business was to elect the officers of the congress; a thirty-one member executive committee, a five-member credentials committee, a four-member secretariat, a five-member editorial committee, a five-member platform committee and a five-member by-laws committee. In tandem, the delegates voted on a six-point agenda for the congress.Ho Kuh-bong, a delegate from Hamgyong-Pukto, proposed making Joseph Stalin, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the honorary chairman of the congress, as a thanks for the Soviet Union's contribution to liberating Korea from Japan and for future help in supporting the construction of Korea. Delegates from the Democratic Youth League of North Korea, the North Korean General Federation of Labour Unions, the North Korean Federation of the Peasants Associations and the Korean Democratic Party gave congratulatory remarks to the party. After these speeches, the 1st session was adjourned.
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