The New People's Party of Korea () was a

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

. It was formed on 16 February 1946 by Korean Communists who had been exiled in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, later known as the

Yan'an faction The Yan'an faction () were a group of pro-China communists in the North Korean government after the division of Korea following World War II. The group was involved in a power struggle with pro-Soviet factions but Kim Il-sung was eventually ab ...

. The New People's Party had more moderate positions in some issues compared with the

Communist Party of Korea The Communist Party of Korea () was a communist party in Korea. It was founded during a secret meeting in Seoul in 1925. The Governor-General of Korea had banned communist and socialist parties under the Peace Preservation Law (see History of Kor ...

, therefore it was rather popular with a wide range of Korean people. The leader of the party was

Kim Tu-bong Kim Tu-bong (16 February 1889 – March 1958 or later) was the first Chairman of the Workers' Party of North Korea (a predecessor of today WPK) from 1946 to 1949. He was known in Korean history as a linguist, scholar, revolutionary and poli ...

. On 22 July 1946 the northern section of the Communist Party of Korea joined with the New People's Party, the Democratic Party and the Party of Young Friends of the Celestial Way (supporters of an influential religious sect) to form the United Democratic National Front which put all of North Korea's parties under the "leading role" of the Communists. Then, on 29 July 1946, the northern members of the New People's Party and the held a joint plenum of the Central Committees of both parties and agreed to merge into a single entity. A founding conference was held on 28–30 August, where the united party adopted the name Workers' Party of North Korea. The new party had a membership of more than 170,000 with 134,000 coming from the Communist Party and 35,000 from the New People's Party. Similarly, on 23 November 1946, the southern members of the New People's Party, the remaining southern portion of the Communist Party and a fraction of the People's Party of Korea (the so-called 'forty-eighters') merged to form the

Workers' Party of South Korea The Workers' Party of South Korea ( ko, 남조선로동당) was a communist party in South Korea from 1946 to 1949. It was founded on 23 November 1946 through the merger of the Communist Party of South Korea, New People's Party of Korea and a f ...

led by Pak Hon-yong. On 30 June 1949 the Workers' Party of North Korea and Workers' Party of South Korea merged to form the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party ...

References

Communist parties in Korea Defunct political parties in Korea History of the Workers' Party of Korea Political parties established in 1946 Politics of Korea {{Korea-party-stub