This is part of a larger series examining some of North Korea’s key state institutions. The series has also covered the Cabinet, State Affairs Commission, the Central Military Commission, as well as the Politburo and the Central Committee and the Supreme People’s Assembly.

One of the basic social traits of North Korean life is that every adult and teenager who is not incarcerated must be a member of “an organization” (조직). The most prominent of these is the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), but there is also a number of others which unite children, teenagers, and