사회주의 당의 영도원칙과 헌법 준수 의무의 관계

This study investigates the relationship between North Korea’s party leadership principle and the obligation of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) to comply with the Constitution. The party leadership principle is the application of socialist revolutionary theory to reality and is the basic principle of the socialist system. This means that the revolution is ongoing until communism is realized, and even after the socialist revolution, the party leads the revolution as the vanguard of the revolutionary class. However, party leadership is political leadership and does not perform state functions. The party organizes the state as a tool of revolution, and the state enacts laws as a tool of management. In this way, the laws of the socialist system are a reflection of the party’s lines and policies and are distinct from party policies. In light of socialist theory, the party’s obligation to comply with the constitution is a recognized principle regardless of whether or not it is reflected in the constitution. Although the WPK has the specificity of being a leader (suryŏng)-centered party, it has strong universality as a socialist party, and North Korea’s legal system needs to be interpreted within socialist legal principles. In other words, complying with the law is no different from complying with the party’s line and policies. In particular, given that North Korea emphasizes that the supreme leader takes the lead in enacting, amending, and supplementing the constitution, it is normatively logical for the party to be bound by the constitution it led as an implementation of its policies.