^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Korean Workers' Party (North Korea)

image by David Martucci

image by David Martucci, adapted by Ivan Sache

Introduction
Description
Vertical Version
Former Flag

See also:

Introduction

Kim Il Sung founded the Korean Worker's Party, the ruling political organization of the nation. The Party flag is red bearing the party emblem consisting of three crossed instruments--a hammer for the workers, a hoe for the peasants and a brush for the intellectuals.
David Martucci, 28 Sep 1999

Description

As mentioned, the flag of the KWP has the yellow symbol either in the canton or centered. But I've found that it depends on who is displaying the flag and how it is being displayed. When displayed vertically draped from a building, the symbol is centered. When carried in parade by military units, the symbol is in the canton.
Randy Young, 09 Feb 2005

A little different version of this flag can be seen in this article.
Valentin Poposki, 14 Jul 2006

This image of a North Korean propaganda poster shows three well known flags: party, national, and army (obverse) — however two of them in seemingly variant depictions:
The party flag seems to be colored in a shade of red slightly darken than the national flag. (Maybe nothing but the artist’s attempt to avoid it disappearing against the background?) The Army flag (obverse) shows yellow writings on the blue stripes (very relevant variant) and golden fringe (probably irrelevant).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 02 August 2010

While watching the laying in state of the former DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, I noticed a few things with relations to flags of the DPRK. The first instance is that the flag of the Korean Workers' Party has the emblem in the upper hoist, like the Soviet flag. It is a lot smaller than [the versions shown above], but I am not certain if this is official practice or was just used for this funerary display.
Zachary Harden, 26 Dec 2011

Here, http://tinyurl.com/bge3hfn (Reuters story) (photo) is an unusually close-up shot of the NK Party flag, in unquestionably official use on 1/1/2013 (Leader's New Year's speech).
Here's another shot of the 1/1/13 speech, showing not only the national and party flags but also the Supreme Commander's flag, with the elaborated little ball adornments just as it appears in Željko Heimer's image. Here's the story: http://tinyurl.com/arcshar Here's just the picture (by AFP): http://tinyurl.com/a8lqwdl
David Phillips, 01 January 2013

Vertical Version

image by Jorge Candeias, 18 May 2005

It appears that the flag of the DPRK can be hoisted vertically, as shown in this photo taken outside Pyongyang Central Train Station. Also shown in this picture is a vertical hoisting of the flag of the Korean Workers' Party, which, it is worth noting, is not the only political party in People's Korea - also sitting in the Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang are the Chondoist Chongu Party and the Korean Social Democratic Party. (Whether or not these parties actually do anything is another matter.)
Dafydd Young, 25 Nov 2003

The Público newspaper published on 11 Feb 2005 a report about the ongoing controversy about the North Korean nuclear potential. The article itself, albeit quite lengthy, was devoid of vex content, but it came illustrated by a photo of a military parade that was quite vexy.
It shows two North Korean national flags and a third flag, which I presume being red, and which seems to have no charges, all flown from the military vehicles up front. The building in the back is decorated by a very large arrangement of the national flag and the national coat of arms and its facade is decorated by what's the most interesting bit for us.
A portrait of Kim Jong-Il is in the center, but that's the irrelevant part. On the sides is the relevant part: two vertical flags, looking about 3:1 in proportions, on the left the national flag, on the right the flag of the Korean Workers' Party.
Jorge Candeias, 18 May 2005

Former Flag

image by Jaume Olle, 18 Sep 2009

In Oct 1946, the Korean Workers Party used a white flag with a red star over a red stripe.
Source: personal visit to North Korea by JAVA member Haruki Murata
Nozomi Kariyasu, 18 Sep 2009