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North Korea Party Cadres
The recruitment and training of party cadres (kanbu)
has long been the primary concern of party leadership. Party
cadres are those officials placed in key positions in party
organizations, ranging the Political Bureau to the village party
committees; in government agencies; in economic enterprises; in
military and internal security units; in educational
institutions; and in mass organizations. The duties of cadres are
to educate and lead party and nonparty members of society and to
ensure that party policies and directives are carried out
faithfully. The party penetrates all aspects of life.
Associations and guidance committees exist at all levels of
society, with a local party cadre serving as a key member of each
committee.
Some cadres are concerned principally with ideological
matters, whereas others are expected both to be ideologically
prepared and to give guidance to the technical or managerial
activities of the state. Regardless of specialization, all party
cadres are expected to devote two hours a day to the study of
chuch'e ideology and Kim Il Sung's policies and
instruction.
The party has a number of schools for cadre training. At the
national level, the most prestigious school is the Kim Il Sung
Higher Party School, directly under the Central Committee. Below
the national level are communist colleges established in each
province for the education of county-level cadres. Village-level
cadres are sent to county training schools.
The rules governing cadre selection have undergone subtle
changes in emphasis. Through the early 1970s, "good class
origin," individual ability, and ideological posture were given
more or less equal consideration in the appointment of cadres.
Since the mid-1970s, however, the doctrinally ordained "class
principle" has been downgraded on the assumption that the actual
social or class status of people should not be judged on the
basis of their past family backgrounds but on their "present
class preparation and mental attitudes." The party increasingly
stresses individual merit and "absolute" loyalty as the criteria
for acceptance into the elite status of cadre. Merit and
competence have come to mean "a knowledge of the economy and
technology." Such knowledge is considered crucial because, as Kim
Il Sung stressed in July 1974, "Party organizational work should
be intimately linked to economic work and intraparty work should
be conducted to ensure success in socialist construction and
backup economic work."
An equally important, if not more important criterion for
cadre selection is political loyalty inasmuch as not all cadres
of correct class origin nor all highly competent cadres are
expected to pass the rigorous tests of party life. These tests
entail absolute loyalty to Kim Il Sung and the party, thorough
familiarity with chuch'e ideology, refusal to temporize in
the face of adversity, and a readiness to respond to the party's
call under any conditions and at all times.
Although information on the composition of cadre membership
was limited as of mid-1993, the number of cadres of nonworker and
nonpeasant origin has steadily increased. These cadres generally
are classified as "working intellectuals" engaged in occupations
ranging from party and government activities to educational,
technical, and artistic pursuits. Another notable trend is the
infusion of younger, better educated cadres into the party ranks.
An accent on youth and innovation was very much in evidence after
1973 when Kim Jong Il assumed the leading role in the Three
Revolution Team Movement.
Data as of June 1993
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