North Korea’s amended constitution effectively removes references to reunification with South Korea and shared Korean national identity, formally declaring Seoul a “hostile state”.
The change, which leader Kim Jong Un hinted at at the Supreme People’s Assembly in March, is a major policy departure for North Korea, which has technically remained at war with its southern neighbor since the 1953 armistice in the Korean War.
What has changed from North Korea’s revised charter?
The new constitution, distributed by South Korea’s Unification Ministry on May 6, includes four major changes:
- The goal of reuniting the Korean Peninsula has been abandoned, and South Korea is no longer seen as part of a shared national community.
- A new territorial section has been introduced, which defines North Korea as a country bordered by China and Russia to the north and the Republic of Korea to the south.
- Kim Jong Un has been given special authority on the use of nuclear weapons
- Sections relating to the achievements of his predecessors, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, have been removed
This change is contrary to the Constitution of South Korea, which claims the entire Korean Peninsula and its islands as its territory.
Article 9 of the former constitution states that North Korea “shall strengthen the people’s government in the North” and “strive to achieve national reunification.” References to the so-called “three principles of national reunification” – independence, peaceful reunification and national unity – have also been removed.
Kim began to change his stance as early as late 2023, when he called Seoul his “main enemy.” He later ordered the demolition of a major reunification monument in Pyongyang.
At the Supreme People’s Assembly in January 2024, Kim called for a constitutional amendment defining South Korea as the North’s “primary enemy and irreconcilable major enemy”, stating that North Korean territory was separate from the South.
South Korea redefined not as a reunification partner, but as a foreign enemy
Hong Min, a senior researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification, described these changes as an expansion and formalization of the principle of “struggle against the enemy” and treating the two Koreas as “two hostile states” that Pyongyang has adopted since the collapse of the 2019 US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Hong explained during a forum on North Korea’s constitutional amendment held at the National Assembly of South Korea on May 13 that North Korea is moving towards redefining South Korea not as a reunification partner, nor as part of the same ethnic community, but as a separate, hostile foreign power.
He said removing the reunification language points to a shift toward state-to-state relations shaped by hostility, regional separation and nuclear deterrence.
Cha Do Hyeon, vice president of South Korea’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told the forum that North Korea’s “two hostile states” doctrine is not just a diplomatic expression, but a structural choice linked to the Kim regime’s internal governance, power preservation and strategy toward South Korea.
By portraying South Korea as an external enemy, Cha said, Pyongyang seeks to control internal dissent, bolster the logic of regime security when it feels insecure, and use hostility toward Seoul as a pretext for provocations when circumstances are favorable.
However, Cha said that the term “hostile relations” does not appear in the amended Constitution. He said this may reflect Pyongyang’s awareness that the constitution rarely, if ever, explicitly defines relations with a specific country as hostile.
Instead, Kim told the Supreme People’s Assembly in March that North Korea officially recognize South Korea as a hostile state, while removing the concept of reunification also signaled a shift to more hostile relations with Seoul.
ambiguity on maritime boundaries
Hong said the new territorial division could be seen as North Korea’s de facto acceptance of the Military Demarcation Line, or MDL, as the border between the two countries.
However, he said it should not be read as an explicit recognition of the Northern Limit Line, or NLL, the disputed maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea.
He warned that this ambiguity could give Pyongyang room to act more aggressively in future maritime disputes.
Han Ki Bum, former deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), told DW that although North Korea’s amended constitution does not clearly define maritime boundaries, the NLL has concerns about potential provocations, especially after North Korea’s additional deployment of destroyers to the Yellow Sea in early May.
Strengthening Kim Jong Un’s personal power
“By enshrining Kim Jong Un’s exclusive right to use nuclear weapons in the amended constitution, they have codified the principle of two hostile states and the reinforcement of Kim Jong Un’s one-man dictatorship,” Han said.
Cha also said the amendment emphasizes that Kim is the only person authorized to deploy conventional and nuclear forces in the event of a crisis. He said this gives Pyongyang a strong basis for future negotiations with South Korea and other countries.
Regarding the removal of references to the achievements of the current North Korean leader’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, and father, Kim Jong Il, Hong said that the previous constitution was so focused on the achievements and godly rule of Kim Jong Un’s predecessors that it was often referred to as the “Kim Il Sung–Kim Jong Il Constitution”.
However, in the amendment, the focus has shifted towards a national narrative focused on statehood, territory, sovereignty and nuclear capabilities.
While this may appear to be an attempt by North Korea to present itself as a more traditional state, Hong said it is actually a move to further consolidate Kim’s personal power.
Edited by: Carl Sexton