UN North Korea drops reunification goal from constitution - The move locks in Pyongyang leader Kim Jong Un's shift toward treating Seoul as a permanent adversary.

The Arch of Reunification monument was demolished in Pyongyang in January 2024 after North Korea changed policy
Image: Kin Cheung/AP Photo/picture alliance

North Korea has removed all references to reunification with South Korea from its constitution, according to a document circulating on Wednesday.

The revision marks a sharp break from decades of policy dating back to 1948, when Pyongyang had formally committed to pursuing unification.

How has North Korea changed its constitution?​

The change was reported after the South Korean Unification Ministry shared a document seen by the country's Yonhap News Agency and international media.

The updated constitution, introduced in March, also has a new clause defining North Korea's territory. It says this includes the area bordering China and Russia to the north, "and the Republic of Korea to the south," using South Korea's official name.

The revision also sees leader Kim Jong Un, as chairman of the State Affairs Commission, designated as North Korea's head of state. Previous language has described the chairman post differently — as the country's supreme leader who represents the state.

It adds that command over North Korea's nuclear forces rests with the State Affairs Commission chairman, formalizing Kim's authority over the country's nuclear forces and describing North Korea as a "responsible nuclear weapons state."

What does change mean for relations with South Korea?​

Political scientist Lee Jung Chul of Seoul National University, cited by Yonhap, said the new policy could form a basis for "peaceful coexistence" between the two Korean states.

Lee said the omission of a specific inter-Korean border suggested that Pyongyang was seeking to avoid confrontation for the time being.

Pyongyang has adopted an increasingly hostile policy toward Seoul in recent years, while rejecting calls for dialogue from South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

Kim began shifting course in late 2023, calling Seoul the "main enemy," and later ordered the demolition of a major reunification monument in Pyongyang.

In January 2024, he urged a constitutional amendment that defined South Korea as the North's "primary foe and invariable principal enemy,” stating that North Korean territory was separate from the South.

Kim has vowed to expand nuclear forces, while Pyongyang carried out four missile tests in April — the highest monthly total in more than two years.

The North has also been drawing closer to Russia, sending troops and artillery shells to support its invasion of Ukraine.

Article Link

Archive

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

Don't give up your hopes and dreams North Korea, there is always a way to victory.

 

[Adrian Dittmann]

When ever North Korea thinks your society is too fuck up to save.

 

[Strix454]

What does change mean for relations with South Korea?

less than nothing. The constitution in North Korea is a scrap of paper. The people who wrote this article care about its text far more than anyone in North Korea does.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

South Korea's new goal should be take over of the North.

 

[Kim]

Reunification is impossible while the south continues to produce "kpop".

 

[ToroidalBoat]

South Korea's new goal should be take over of the North.

If it wasn't for Marx dumping out that damn manifesto, there could've been a unified Korea all along.

their whole cult was founded by an unshaven asshat who wanted to skip rent

 

[Althalus]

South Korea's new goal should be take over of the North.

Hasn't that technically been their goal for the last 70+ years? Consider that the South did try to take all of the North during the Korean War, which never technically ended and is just under a ceasefire with the border being frozen at the frontlines in 1953.

Putting aside that autistic hairsplitting, NK only exists because China wants it as a buffer state to keep US troops off their border, hence China wouldn't allow it. And SK knows that and wouldn't want to provoke China.

 

[Thiletonomics]

Reunification is impossible while the south continues to produce "kpop".

The North knows that it's best to just let the South die out on its own, either by population extinction, or until they mass import enough Blacks and Browns to turn the country into the next Haiti.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

The North knows that it's best to just let the South die out on its own, either by population extinction, or until they mass import enough Blacks and Browns to turn the country into the next Haiti.

What if the South gets absorbed by Taiwan?

 

[Fred Herbert]

Fun fact, with this new constitution North Korea lost its "Eternal President".

Farewell GREAT LEADER COMRADE KIM IL-SUNG (this is legitimately how you have to write it there). The world's only Necrocracy is over

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

The North knows that it's best to just let the South die out on its own, either by population extinction, or until they mass import enough Blacks and Browns to turn the country into the next Haiti.

Pretty sure the North has just as bad population decay, though granted they have lower life expectancy and are ruled by a single (soon to be) mega boomer rather than a coalition of them.

 

[Male Idiot]

Nobody wants worst korea, not even Best Korea. They are so fucked even Japan looks spry and young by comparison.

Feminist way to extinction and yummy doggie! The fate of the servants of ZOG.

 

[Hatter]

Ol' Kimnito Jongolini

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Fun fact, with this new constitution North Korea lost its "Eternal President".

Farewell GREAT LEADER COMRADE KIM IL-SUNG (this is legitimately how you have to write it there). The world's only Necrocracy is over

tbh that seems like kind of a big deal that signals a long-term shift away from Kim worship to longer even have him on paper

 

[JosephStalin]

Doubt many in the South want reunification anyway. It was difficult and expensive enough for West Germany and East Germany to reunify, and the East had one of the best economies, for a Communist country. By comparison, North Korea is an economic basket case compared to the South.

The South has twice the population of the North. The North's GDP is little more than a rounding error to the South's. The standard of living in the South is a quantum leap ahead of the North.

Seriously, try studying some history and paying attention....Jesus...

Here, 39 months in country, speak the language, lived downtown almost all that time.