North Korea has deleted all references to unification with South Korea from its constitution, a document reviewed yesterday by Agence France-Presse (AFP) showed, underscoring Pyongyang’s push for a more hostile policy toward Seoul.
The two countries remain technically at war because their 1950-1953 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Pyongyang’s constitution had previously contained a clause stating that it aimed “to realize the unification of the motherland.”
Photo: Korean Central News Agency via Reuters
That reference no longer appears in the latest version, presented yesterday by Seoul National University professor Lee Jung-chul during a news conference at the South Korean Ministry of Unification.
North Korean officials considered constitutional amendments at a major congress in March, at which leader Kim Jong-un labeled Seoul the “most hostile state.”
The deleted clause stated that the nuclear-armed nation would struggle for “national reunification on the principles of independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity.”
The revised constitution, which the document indicated was introduced in March, also includes a new clause delineating North Korea’s territory.
Using South Korea’s official name, the clause says North Korean territory includes the area bordering China and Russia to the north, “and the Republic of Korea to the south.”
North Korea “absolutely does not allow any infringement on its territory,” it added.
It is the first time North Korea has added a territorial clause to its constitution, Lee said.
The omission of a specific inter-Korean border suggested Pyongyang might be trying to avoid immediately creating a new source of friction, even as it embeds Kim’s “two hostile states” doctrine in the country’s highest law, South Korean media quoted Lee as saying.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has called for talks with the North without preconditions, saying the countries are destined “to make the flowers of peace bloom.”
However, the North has not responded to the Lee administration’s overtures and has repeatedly called the South its “most hostile” adversary.
That language echoes a constitutional amendment in 2024, when Pyongyang defined the South as a “hostile state” for the first time.
“By deleting references related to unification, North Korea appears to have codified the message that it will no longer seek to claim South Korean territory,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor emeritus at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
In turn, Pyongyang “expects the South not to infringe on the North’s territory” he said.
During the administration of South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, the North blew up roads and railways linking it with the South and erected what appeared to be barriers near the border.
Seoul’s military in March said that North Korea had resumed similar construction work near the border.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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