General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea

The **General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea** (Korean: 조선로동당 총비서) is the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party in North Korea and typically the supreme leader of North Korea.

The office of WPK Chairman was abolished on 12 October 1966 and replaced with the office of General Secretary by a decision of the 14th Plenary Session of the 4th Central Committee. At the 8th WPK Congress in 2021, where the WPK Chairman was abolished and replaced by the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The current General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea is Kim Jong-un, who took office on 10 January 2021.

## Officeholders

|colspan="5"|**Chief Secretary of the North Korea Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea** <small>조선공산당 북조선분국 책임비서</small>|||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||**<big>Kim Yong-bom</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김용범</span> 1902–1947|rowspan="1"|13 October 1945|rowspan="1"|18 December 1945|rowspan="1"|–|||
||**<big>Kim Il-sung</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김일성</span> 1912–1994|18 December 1945|31 August 1946|–||||||
|align="center" rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|**<big>Kim Tu-bong</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김두봉</span> 1889–1958|rowspan="1"|31 August 1946|rowspan="1"|30 March 1948|rowspan="1"|1st Central Committee|
|rowspan="1"|30 March 1948|rowspan="1"|30 June 1949|rowspan="1"|2nd Central Committee|||||
|rowspan="3"||rowspan="3"|**<big>Kim Il-sung</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김일성</span> 1912–1994|rowspan="1"|30 June 1949|rowspan="1"|29 April 1956|rowspan="1"|2nd Central Committee|
|rowspan="1"|29 April 1956|rowspan="1"|18 September 1961|rowspan="1"|3rd Central Committee|||||
|rowspan="1"|18 September 1961|rowspan="1"|12 October 1966|rowspan="1"|4th Central Committee|||||
|rowspan="3"||rowspan="3"|**<big>Kim Il-sung</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김일성</span> 1912–1994|rowspan="1"|12 October 1966|rowspan="1"|13 November 1970|rowspan="1"|4th Central Committee|
|rowspan="1"|13 November 1970|rowspan="1"|14 October 1980|rowspan="1"|5th Central Committee|||||
|rowspan="1"|14 October 1980|rowspan="1"|8 July 1994|rowspan="2"|6th Central Committee|||||
|colspan="4"|_Vacant_ <small>(8 July 1994–8 October 1997)</small>|||||||||
|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|**<big>Kim Jong-il</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김정일</span> 1941–2011|rowspan="1"|8 October 1997|rowspan="1"|28 September 2010|rowspan="3"|6th Central Committee|
|rowspan="1"|28 September 2010|rowspan="1"|17 December 2011|||||||
|colspan="4"|_Vacant_ <small>(17 December 2011–11 April 2012)</small>|||||||||
|rowspan="1"||rowspan="1"|**<big>Kim Jong-un</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김정은</span> born 1983|rowspan="1"|11 April 2012|rowspan="1"|9 May 2016|rowspan="1"|6th Central Committee|
|rowspan="1"||rowspan="1"|**<big>Kim Jong-un</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김정은</span> born 1983|rowspan="1"|9 May 2016|rowspan="1"|10 January 2021|rowspan="1"|7th Central Committee|
|rowspan="1"||rowspan="1"|**<big>Kim Jong-un</big>** <span style="font-size:100%;">김정은</span> born 1983|rowspan="1"|10 January 2021|rowspan="1"|Present|rowspan="1"|8th Central Committee|

## Infobox (political post)

- **post**: General Secretary
- **body**: the
Workers' Party of Korea
- **flag**: WPK_symbol.svg
- **flagsize**: 120px
- **flagcaption**: Emblem of the Workers' Party of Korea
- **insignia**: WPK Chairman emblem.svg
- **insigniacaption**: Emblem of the WPK leader
- **department**: Workers' Party of Korea
- **image**: Kim Jong-un April 2019 (cropped).jpg
- **incumbent**: Kim Jong-un
- **incumbentsince**: 10 January 2021
- **style**: Comrade
()
- **type**: Party leader
Supreme leader
- **residence**: Forbidden City (Pyongyang), Forbidden City
- **seat**: Pyongyang
- **nominator**: National meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea, WPK Congress
- **termlength**: No fixed term
- **constituting instrument**: Charter of the Workers' Party of Korea, WPK Charter
- **inaugural**: Kim Tu-bong
- **appointer**: WPK Congress
- **formation**: 12 October 1966
- **imagesize**: 165px


## Infobox (korean name)

- **title**: General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
- **hangul**: 조선로동당 총비서
- **rr**: Joseon Rodongdang Chongbiseo
- **mr**: Chosŏn Rodongdang Ch'ongbisŏ