Originally, "Communist Party of Korea" was formed during the era of Japanese rule in 1945. They merged with "New People's Party of Korea" (group consisted of Communists exiled in China, later known as "Yan'an faction") in 1946. In the same year, "Workers' Party of North Korea" established. Today's "Workers' Party of Korea" (WPK) was officially formed in 1949 when "Workers' Party of North Korea" and "Workers' Party of South Korea" were merged. Kim Il Sung, indoctrinated to be worshipped as the Sun to every North Korean, founded none of the parties above, but eventually became the de facto eternal leader of DPRK.
The party's emblem is an adaptation of the Communist hammer and sickle, with a traditional Korean calligraphy brush. Each symbol is to represent industrial workers (hammer), peasants (sickle), and intellectuals (ink brush). WPK still controls the vast majority of politics and people lives, but it also consists different factions which each of them holds slightly different agendas and ideologies. Not all politicians in DPRK are Communists.
Today WPK controls the world's 5th largest armed forces. Although the Workers' Party is organized like other Communist parties, it is less institutionalized. In other words, it is loose and lacks formal political players and functions. The fundamental ideology supporting the party is "Juche" which can be translated as something like "Subjectivity". It is a mix of economic theories of Marx and Engels, social revolution and precedent of Lenin, Communism, Socialism, Collectivism and Nationalism with heavy interest in military. It is similar to the logic behind Chinese Communist Party which Mao attempted to establish "a Communism with Chinese flavor". In short, "Juche" can be understood as "Communism with Korean flavor".
In North Korea, "Juche" is everything, from one's birth to death. It is perhaps graver than one's life.
A monument in Pyongyang commemorating the establishment of WPK constructed in 1995
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