North Korea Drops Reunification in Constitutional Revision, Recognizing South Korea as a Separate St

North Korea has formally removed a long-standing constitutional provision stating that the two Koreas belong to a single nation with the ultimate goal of reunification — instead, the recently announced change denotes South Korea as a hostile state.

The constitutional change reflects a major shift in leader Kim Jong Un’s policy toward South Korea, and comes amid heightened tensions over inter-Korean relations and regional security.

It comes as. significant development because while Kim first declared his “two hostile states” policy more than two and a half years ago, the relevant document was subsequently taken offline. The full revised document, incorporating amendments made in March, was reposted on Naenara, North Korea’s official propaganda website, on Wednesday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

The most significant change appears in Article 2, which defines North Korea as a territory “bordering the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation to the north and the Republic of Korea to the south,” with defined territorial waters and airspace, reported Korea JoongAng Daily.

The latest revisions follow constitutional amendments adopted at the first session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly on March 23. Kim first outlined his vision of “two separate, hostile states” at a party plenary meeting in late 2023. In January 2024, he removed expressions such as “peaceful unification” and “national unity” from the constitution.

Strengthening Kim’s authority

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The previous constitution included provisions related to national reunification. However, following the revisions, despite the inclusion of a clause defining the two Koreas as separate neighboring states, there is no mention of South Korea as the “No. 1 hostile state” or “invariable principal enemy.” The revised constitution, however, includes provisions that strengthen Kim’s authority.

Under the earlier provisions, Kim was referred to as “the country’s supreme leader who represents the state.” The revised constitution also identifies him as the chairman of the State Affairs Commission, placing the country’s nuclear forces under his command, Reuters reported.

This implies that the revised constitution grants Kim, as chairman of the State Affairs Commission, command over Pyongyang’s nuclear forces and authorizes him to delegate the authority to use nuclear weapons to the state nuclear command organization, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.