In practice, the Central Committee has the ability to dismiss and appoint new members without consulting with the wider party at its own plenary sessions.

The Central Committee convenes at least once a year for a plenary session ("meeting"), and shall function as a top forum for discussion about relevant policy issues.

However, its actual ability to affect outcomes of national-level personnel decisions is non-existent, as that function has generally been, in practice, carried out by the Kim family and the Politburo.

Nonetheless, Central Committee plenums function as venues whereby policy is formally implemented, and public announcements made.

[2] Controlled by the Politburo rather than the Central Committee, the apparatus was the nominal government of North Korea under Kim Il Sung.

[8] A plenary session shall consist of, according to the WPK Charter, discussing and deciding on "important issues of the party" and is empowered to elect the Politburo and its Presidium, Executive Policy Bureau, the Central Military Commission,[8] the Control Commission, WPK vice-chairmen, heads of CC departments and lower-level provincial posts.

[10] Organizations Cabinet Ministries The Politburo, formerly the Political Committee, was the main decision-making body of the WPK until the establishment of the Presidium.

[11][12] The Politburo has full (voting) and candidate (non-voting) members and is the highest WPK decision-making body when it convenes for meetings.

[13] This was not always the case; before Kim Il Sung purged the party opposition, the Politburo was a decision-making body where policy differences were discussed.

[15] Between O Jin-u's death and the 3rd Conference, there were no reports indicating that Kim Jong Il or the central party leadership was planning to change the composition of the Presidium.

[16] Stephan Haggard, Luke Herman and Jaesung Ryu, writing for Asian Survey in 2014, contended that the Presidium "was clearly not a functioning institution.

[21] According to Article 27 of the WPK Charter, the CMC is the highest party body in military affairs and leads the Korean People's Army (KPA).

Investigative subjects range from graft to anti-party and counter-revolutionary activities, generally encompassing all party rules violations.

[28] By the 3rd Conference, it was known by foreign observers that certain department heads (Chong Pyong-ho, Kim Kuk-tae and Ri Ha-il, for example) had retired.

[27] A new legal affairs department was created in August 2020 and the 8th Congress in January 2021 revealed the existence of an economic policy office.