 At this congress , Kim Il @-@ sung designated his son Kim Jong @-@ il as his successor . The move was criticized by the South Korean media and ruling communist parties of the socialist states in Eastern Europe and Asia because it was considered <unk> . The congress also saw the WPK and North Korea move away from orthodox communism by emphasizing the Juche idea over Marxism – Leninism , giving the party a nationalistic bent . The next party congress was not convened before 2016 , despite party rules that stipulated that a congress had to be held every fifth year . 
