6th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea

6th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea

The flag of the Workers' Party of Korea
Date	10–14 October 1980 (4 days)
Location	February 8 House of Culture, Pyongyang, North Korea
Participants	3,062 delegates
Outcome	Election of the 6th Central Committee and 6th Central Auditing Committee

The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was held in the February 8 House of Culture in Pyongyang, North Korea, from 10–14 October 1980. The congress is the highest organ of the party, and is stipulated to be held every four years. 3,062 delegates represented the party's membership; 117 foreign delegates attended the congress, without the right to speak. The congress saw the reappointment of Kim Il-sung as WPK General Secretary and the Presidium of the Politburo established as the highest organ of the party between congresses.

At this congress, Kim Il-sung designated his son Kim Jong-il as his successor. The move was criticized by the South Korean media and ruling communist parties of the socialist states in Eastern Europe and Asia because it was considered nepotist. The congress also saw the WPK and North Korea move away from orthodox communism by emphasizing the Juche idea over Marxism–Leninism, giving the party a nationalistic bent. The next party congress was not convened before 2016, despite party rules that stipulated that a congress had to be held every fifth year.

Little is known about the preparations for the 6th Congress. It was convened a decade after the 5th WPK Congress (in 1970), outside the party norm of a quadrennial meeting. There was no official reason for its postponement, but it was probably due to the fact that WPK General Secretary Kim Il-sung spent much of the 1970s gathering support (and creating an independent power base) for his son and planned successor Kim Jong-il. In addition, a great deal of time was spent restructuring party organizations and functions. The primary reason for the 6th Congress was to formalize Kim Jong-il as Kim Il-sung's chosen successor.