Emblem of Workers' Party of Korea

October 10 this year marks the 65^th birthday of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) founded in 1945.

The WPK, since its founding, has creditably performed its role as the organizer of all victories of the Korean people and the great guide of the cause of socialism, breaking through all sorts of upheavals and trials of history.

The 65-year-long career of the WPK, resplendent with victory and glory, is inconceivable apart from its emblem clearly showing its character.

Its golden emblem bears a hammer, a sickle, and a writing brush which are intertwined in the middle of their handles. The hammer is symbolic of a worker, the sickle a peasant, and the writing brush an intellectual. The intertwinement of the said symbolic at one point shows that the working class, the peasants and the intellectuals are closely united.

The WPK ‘s emblem represents that the Party embraces not only the working class but fine progressive elements of peasants and intellectuals, and that it conducts all its activities to meet the demands and interest of broad sections of the working people. It also symbolizes that the Party is vanguard unit of the working people who are rallied around their leader firmly in organizational and ideological aspects.

What is noticeable in the emblem is the writing brush. Today there are a number of emblems and flags symbolic of the party of the working class around the world, and they all have only a hammer and a sickle on them it is only the WPK that has the writing brush designed along with the hammer and the sickle.

Then, how was the WPK ‘s emblem designed? It is said that its draft design was originally different from the present one. It had a drawing of a worker holding a hammer and a peasant plowing a field. Some people proposed to depict the worker as a smelter holding a tapping bar.

President Kim Il Sung(1912-1994), father of socialist Korea and founder of the WPK, examined the draft design and pointed out that it was a great mistake to exclude an intellectual in the design, only depicting a worker and a peasant. He instructed that the Party emblem should portray a working intellectual together with a worker and a peasant. Only then can the emblem represent that the WPK is a unified party of the masses of working people embracing the progressive elements of workers, peasants and working intellectuals, he said. Then he indicated specific ways of portrayal, even advancing his opinion on depicting a hammer for the worker, a sickle for the peasant and a writing brush for working intellectual in Korean style, although a pen would be possible.

Afterward, he examined a design presented by creators, who drew a hammer, a sickle and a writing brush fan-like by attaching their ends in regular order. He told them that it was recommended to intertwine them in the middle of their handles not only in the light of composition but to represent that the Korean people including the working class, peasants and intellectuals are closely united, and even fixed the point of their crossing. When the creators failed to show distinctive points where the hammer, the sickle and the writing brush were intertwined, he noted that the lines of those handles must be clearly drawn so that everybody could easily see their orders, and gave his finishing touches to the design, personally making sketches on a paper.

As a result, a writing brush together with a hammer and a sickle was depicted on the emblem of the WPK. The WPK not only described in its emblem the fact that it regards intellectuals as its constituent together with workers and peasants, but has let them to share the same destiny forever with the Party.

Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the WPK, once said to officials that the brilliant career of the WPK is associated with devoted services of not only workers and peasants but working intellectuals and that its history splendid with victory and glory is inconceivable apart from them. The other time, he received a letter from intellectuals who wrote their determination to entrust their destiny entirely to the Party and believe and follow it in whatever hardships and trials. He sent them a letter of his reply, hoping they would be eternal companions, faithful assistants and excellent advisers in the Party building and activities.

It is by no means fortuitous that the Korean intellectuals are dedicating their wisdom and zeal to realizing the cause of socialism, holding high the slogan “ there is no border in science, but we have our socialist motherland.”

True to the WPK’s plan to build a thriving nation, they are now bringing about eye-opening achievements in the drive to push back the frontiers of science and technology . Typical are the successful launch of two artificial earth satellites, development and introduction of CNC technology, manufacture of an UHP electric arc furnace and perfection of an iron-and steel-making technology of using no coke. These can be said to be a powerful demonstration of the writing brush uniquely depicted in the WPK’s emblem.

The WPK with a unique emblem will emerge victorious in the future, too.