Workers' Party of South Korea
1946–1949 political party in South Korea

The Workers' Party of South Korea (Korean: 남조선로동당) was a communist party in South Korea from 1946 to 1949. It is also sometimes colloquially referred to as the "Namro Party" (남로당; 南勞黨).
History
It was founded on 23 November 1946 through the merger of the Communist Party of South Korea, New People's Party of Korea and a faction of the People's Party of Korea (the so-called 'forty-eighters'). It was led by Ho Hon. The clandestine trade union movement, the All Korea Labor Union (Chŏnp'yŏng) and Korean Trade Union National Council were connected to the party.
The party was outlawed by the United States occupation authorities due to the party being an aggravating opposition to South Korea and the US, but the party organized a network of clandestine cells and was able to obtain a considerable following. It had around 360,000 party members. In 1947, the party initiated armed guerrilla struggle. As the persecution of party intensified, large sections of the party leadership moved to Pyongyang.
The party was opposed to the formation of a South Korean state.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Workers' Party of South Korea” is 1946–1949 political party in South Korea. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Workers', Party and South, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1946–1949 political party in South Korea” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q49621. VIAF identifies the subject as 148924364. The Library of Congress control number is n80113841. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 1949 and 1947.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Workers' Party of South Korea”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Workers' Party of South Korea primary sources, Workers' Party of South Korea archive and Workers' research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Workers' Party of South Korea”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Workers' Party of South Korea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.