North Korea has revised the rules governing its ruling Workers’ Party in ways that strengthen Kim Jong Un’s authority and lay the groundwork for more centralised control, according to a report by a South Korean security institute affiliated with the National Intelligence Service.
The revisions were adopted at the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Ninth Congress in February and are intended to further institutionalise the party’s control over the state and military, the Institute for National Security Strategy said on Thursday. The changes also place greater emphasis on the central role of Kim, who holds the position of general secretary of the party.
Under the revised rules, the general secretary has explicit authority to convene and chair meetings of the Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee. The post also carries powers to appoint and dismiss key officials, admit or expel party members, and dissolve party organisations and departments.
According to the institute, these provisions enable Kim to exercise more direct authority without having to rely as heavily on collective decision-making bodies within the party. The changes therefore strengthen the position of the general secretary while reducing the need to convene wider party bodies for certain decisions.
The revisions also seek to regularise the party’s operations and tighten central oversight of government and military affairs. Central Committee plenary meetings will now be required at least once every six months, establishing a more defined schedule for the party’s highest-level deliberations.
At the same time, the revised rules provide a mechanism for faster decision-making during wartime. When authorised by the Central Committee, the Politburo will be able to decide major wartime issues without convening the full committee. The measure is intended to prevent delays by allowing a smaller group of senior officials to act when circumstances require more immediate decisions.
The changes also reflect an effort to place Kim Jong Un more prominently at the centre of the party’s institutional structure. The institute said the revisions removed remaining references to the achievements of Kim’s grandfather, state founder Kim Il Sung, and his father, former leader Kim Jong Il, while placing greater emphasis on Kim Jong Un’s central role.
The revisions come alongside North Korea’s continued abandonment of its longstanding unification policy towards South Korea. The revised rules retained the shift that followed Pyongyang’s deletion of related language in 2024 under its “two hostile states” framework, signalling the continuation of that policy position within the party’s governing rules.
Other changes affect party membership and discipline. The minimum age for party membership has been raised to 20 from 18, while disciplinary measures against members have been expanded.
Taken together, the revisions represent a significant restructuring of the mechanisms through which the Workers’ Party operates and exercises authority over North Korea’s state and military institutions. The Institute for National Security Strategy described the changes as part of a “Kim Jong Un era 2.0”, characterising them as a further consolidation of authority around the North Korean leader.
The report’s assessment suggests that the revisions are designed not merely to adjust party procedures but to reinforce the concentration of political authority around Kim, while giving the leadership more direct control over key appointments, party organisations and major decisions.
