North Korean Branch Bureau

Two different lines were articulated at the conference.[18] O Ki-sop, the representative of the Pak Hon-yong line, espoused the idea of a popular front while Kim Il Sung and his supported advocated a national united front strategy.[18] The Pak Hon-yong overall line was adopted by the conference, but a compromise was reached in several areas.[18] Kim Il Sung's national united front strategy explicitly called for an alliance with the capitalist class and the landlords, while the popular front line opposed this.[19] While this line had to be supported by his Soviet allies evidence points to the fact that Kim Il Sung had held this stance during his time as a partisan fighter.[19] However, for Kim Il Sung this was nothing more than a tactic.[19] He still emphasised the importance of maintaining the proletarian leadership in such an alliance, while frankly admitting that the North Korean communist movement was weak and the capitalist class powerful.[20] On the other hand, O Ki-sop called for the establishment of a "united, people's self-reliant republic".[20] He never mentioned capitalists and landlords in his speech, but warned against bringing pro-Japanese, pro-imperialist and reactionaries into the popular front.[20] This was in direct opposition to Kim Il Sung's more inclusive line, and O Ki-sop went further and called for the "construction of a new nation by selected Communists."[21] Kim Il Sung would later criticise O Ki-sop for his stance at the 2nd Party Congress in 1948, stating that the belief that the national united front strategy "would give the party a setback [and] make the party rightist-oriented" was wrong.[20] This part of the debate produced the document "Resolution on the Establishment of the Political Line and the Expansion and Strengthening of the Organisation".[22] Most of Kim Il Sung's suggestions featured in the document, but his united national front strategy was not mentioned at all.[23]

Otherwise, there were the points of agreements. Both O Ki-sop and Kim Il Sung harshly criticised left and right communism and specifically accused the Changan group of practising Trotskyism.[24] However, as with the front strategy, Kim Il Sung was more flexible and inclusive than O Ki-sop.[22] Kim Il Sung suggested that these communists could join the NKBB and CKP if they repented for their actions and were willing to learn from the errors.[22] No such stance was articulated by O Ki-sop.[22] Despite Kim Il Sung's stance, the conference passed the resolution "Criticism Against the Leftist Tendency and Its Sectarian Activities" in a bid to support Pak Hon-yong in his struggle against the Changan group.[25]

While both O Ki-sop and Kim Il Sung recognised Pak Hon-yong's leadership and achievements, Kim Il Sung was critical of the CPK and considered it a "failure".[22] He criticised the party's problem with factionalism and told the gathering that it was "only two months old", refusing to give age-old legitimacy.[22] As for the party's democratic norms and structure, both O Ki-sop and Kim Il Sung talked about the need for democratic centralism and the importance of Marxist–Leninist beliefs.[22] However, Kim Il Sung stated his opposition to "excessive democracy in which [too] many people participate in discussing all matters", thereby calling for the centralisation of power.[22] O Ki-sop for that matter never criticised the CPK, and called for a standing ovation to Pak Hon-yong at the conference while finishing his report with "Long live the CPK" and in support with the party's national policies "Long live the Sovereignty of the Korean People's Republic."[22] In line with his critical stance, Kim Il Sung called the conference to discuss the following points;[26]

1. establishing the NKBB;[26]
2. writing party rules;[26]
3. issuing of party membership documents;[26]
4. the convocation of an All-National Congress of the CPK.[26]

Political scientist Hak Soon Paik writes "I believe that Kim Il-sung clearly took the initiative in the Korean Communist movement by introducing such critical issues of the party [at the conference]."[26] The CPK, being plagued by factionalism, had failed to establish party rules, create membership cards and formalising the party structure.[26] To take an example, the CPK had failed to establish a structure that issued party documents so the initiative shown by Kim Il Sung meant "a great deal" for certain segments in the party.[27] Kim Il Sung proposed to the conference that "If it is technically difficult for the Center to print party membership certificates, let us issue them in north Korea under the approval of the [CPK Central Committee]."[25] The conference passed a draft of party rules, and on Kim Il Sung's suggestion sent it to Seoul to "help" the CPK leadership.[25] The conference unanimously approved "the work in Seoul be assisted by proposing to the [CPK Central Committee] that the draft be decided by the center and printing and other technical matters be carried out in Pyongyang."[25] That is, the NKBB which had been established as a subordinate organ of the CPK took the role of assistant to the CPK Central Committee.[25] Despite this, Kim Il Sung moved carefully and the conference voted unanimously for adding the following text to its internal regulation; "Whenever the [CPK Central Committee] recognises the need of betterment such as reform, etc., the [CPK Central Committee] reserves the right to act accordingly and the Branch Bureau has the duty to obey."[18]

Kim Il Sung called for the convocation of an All-National Congress of the CPK "[to empower the party] cadres who would be elected through [party] action programs, party certificates, party rules and party democracy."[28] He indirectly mentioned the support he had from the Soviet Union, and stated "[that] the Party Congress should be [the one] that will receive the support of the international brother [communist] parties".[28] In this section of the debate, and in the conference more generally, all of Kim Il Sung's proposals were adopted unanimously.[28] This means that even the representatives of the CPK Central Committee led by Pak Hon-yong fully endorsed his leadership of conference proceedings.[28]

The last item of the proceeding was to elect the composition of the NKBB Executive Committee (which took place on 13 October 1945).[29] 15 individuals drawn from Pyongyang and five provinces were elected to the Executive Committee.[28] The identity of one member remains unknown to this day.[29] 10 members had a background in the indigenous communist movement, and two (Kim Il Sung and An Kil) were former partisans.[29] However, this does not mean that Kim Il Sung was in a clear minority in the Executive Committee.[29] Besides Kim Il Sung and O Ki-sop, the two other leading communists Pak Chong-ae and Kim Yong-bom supported Kim Il Sung and the Soviet line.[29] Besides 71 percent of Executive Committee members having a domestic background that did not mean their position was anti-Kim or critical of him in any way.[29]

At a later date, at the 1st Plenary Session of the Executive Committee, a Standing Committee was elected.[30] The same plenum elected Kim Yong-bom as the First Secretary of the Executive Committee and O Ki-sop as Second Secretary of the Executive Committee[31] There are also reports that Mu Chong was elected to a high-ranking position, but it seems unlikely that those rumours are true.[31] At last, nine Executive Committee departments were established and nine department heads appointed.[32]

Books:

• Scalapino, Robert; Lee, Chong-sik (1972). Communism in Korea: The Movement. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-02080-1.
• Suh, Dae-sook (1981). Korean Communism 1945–1980: A Reference Guide to the Political System (1st ed.). University Press of Hawaii. ISBN 0-8248-0740-5.

Dissertations:

• Paik, Hak Soon (1993). North Korean State Formation, 1945–1950 (Thesis). University of Pennsylvania. OCLC 34751625.

Websites:

• Choe, Young Jae (18 March 2019). "Date of Establishment of the Labor Party was Fabricated Based on Kim Il-sung's False Career". 더 자유일보 (in Korean and English). Retrieved 24 April 2021.