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

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

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

. The New People's Party had more moderate positions in some issues compared with the Communist Party of Korea, therefore it was rather popular with a wide range of Korean people. The leader of the party was Kim Tu-bong.

History

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 Workers' Party of North Korea () was a communist party in North Korea from 1946 to 1949 and was a predecessor of the current Workers' Party of Korea. It was founded at a congress on 28–30 August 1946, by the merger of the northern branc ...

. 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 People's Party of Korea () was a moderate left-wing political party created on November 12, 1945 by Lyuh Woon-Hyung Lyuh Woon-hyung (; 25 May 1886 – 19 July 1947), also known by his art name Mongyang (), was a Korean independence movem ...

(the so-called 'forty-eighters') merged to form the

Workers' Party of South Korea The Workers' Party of South Korea () was a communist party in South Korea from 1946 to 1949. It is also sometimes colloquially referred to as the "Namro Party" (). It was founded on 23 November 1946 through the merger of the Communist Party of ...

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), also called the Korean Workers' Party (KWP), is the sole ruling party of North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is ...

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 Political parties disestablished in 1946 {{Korea-party-stub

History

See also

References