In North Korea, a typical Stalinist country with a ruling party that dominates the state, the rules of the Korea Workers' Party are statutory provisions taking precedence over the constitution. Article 11 of the socialist constitution, amended in September 1998, stipulates, "The People's Democratic Republic of Korea shall execute all activities under the leadership of the Korea Workers' Party." And the current party rules, revised in October 1980, proclaims in a preamble, "The vanguard and organized troops of the nation's worker class and entire working masses, the Korea Workers' Party is the supreme revolutionary organization among all working organizations."

The party-state relationship in which the former leads the latter signifies that party decisions and resolutions take precedence over those of the state. The December 1991 appointment of National Defense Commission chairman Kim Jong Il as Supreme Commander of the People's armed forces at the 19th plenary session of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party contradicted the provision of the North Korean constitution (article 93) that the President as "the supreme commander of the entire armed forces" commands and controls all the armed forces. But the act raised no legal dispute whatsoever because of the status of the party versus that of the state.

Most conspicuous of the party rules is the fact that "revolution in South Korea" is cited as a pressing goal of the Workers' Party. The party rules proclaim in the preamble, "The impending objective of the Korea Workers' Party is accomplishing national liberation and the people's democratic revolution across the country by gaining a complete victory of socialism in the Northern half of the Republic. And the party's final objective is to spread juche (self-reliance) ideology and build a socialist society throughout the country."

The Workers' Party, which rules the state, in turn, is led by the juche and revolutionary ideologies established by North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. Those ideologies are described as the so-called "Kim Il Sung instructions," the authority to interpret which is now monopolized by the paramount North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il. This leads to the conclusion that Kim Jong Il's words or instructions represent supreme norms in North Korea, taking precedence over the constitution and party rules.

(Kim Kwang In, kki@chosun.com )