North Korea has amended its constitution and abandoned the goal of reunification with South Korea, officially defining itself for the first time in more than 70 years as a separate state in relation to Seoul.
The amendments codified Kim Jong Un’s shift away from the previous policy that envisaged the eventual reunification of the Korean Peninsula. The changes were disclosed by a researcher at a press conference organised by South Korea’s unification ministry.
The new version of the constitution states that “the territory of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea includes the territories bordering the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation to the north, and the Republic of Korea to the south, as well as the adjacent territorial waters and airspace”. Experts interpret this as a de facto recognition of the existence of two separate Korean states.
Pyongyang had previously officially adhered to a course of future reunification of the peninsula, divided after the Second World War. North Korean authorities have not yet commented on the updated constitution, and the source of the text presented by the South Korean ministry has not been disclosed.
Although the new version of the document does not describe South Korea in hostile terms, analysts believe this does not signal any abandonment of Pyongyang’s hardline rhetoric. According to Christopher Green, a consultant at the International Crisis Group, the changes fit into a longer-term effort to present the DPRK as a “normal state”. “Normal states define their adversaries in defence doctrines and strategies, not in the constitution,” he said.
In recent years, Kim Jong Un has repeatedly described the two Koreas as separate countries and has steadily removed symbolism associated with reunification. In Pyongyang, the Tonil (“Reunification”) metro station was renamed, and the Arch of Reunification was dismantled.
Green also noted that the new constitutional preamble emphasises adherence to international norms on territorial borders. This is especially significant against the backdrop of the dispute over the Northern Limit Line—the de facto maritime boundary between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea, drawn by the UN Command after the 1953 armistice.
Pyongyang has never officially recognised the line, arguing that it was imposed unilaterally by the United States and violates international maritime law. In Green’s view, the constitutional reform “locks in the divergence of positions and creates conditions for possible future clashes”.
The new constitution also removes the phrase “Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il Constitution” and provisions stating that the DPRK “inherited the glorious revolutionary struggle for the liberation of the country and for the freedom and happiness of the people against imperialist aggressors”.
In addition, the updated text grants Kim Jong Un authority over the use of nuclear weapons and allows such decisions to be delegated to a “state nuclear command structure”.
The North Korean leader had already earlier loosened the country’s nuclear doctrine, allowing for the possibility of preventive nuclear strikes, including in response to attacks with conventional weapons.