Events from the year 1956 in North Korea. Andrei Lankov calls 1956 a turning point in North Korean history. It marked the 3rd Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) followed by two important plenums of the Central Committee of the WPK. The plenum in August became known as the August Faction Incident as Kim Il Sung's opponents unsuccessfully tried to oust him. It was followed by another plenum in September that saw Kim being pressured by China and the Soviet Union to tone down his political line. Kim, however, retaliated by beginning the purge of his party's Soviet faction that year.