Blue House on North Korea's Constitutional Amendment: "Comprehensive Review, Consistent Pursuit of Korean Peninsula Peaceful Coexistence Policy"

The Blue House announced that it would review North Korea's constitutional amendment, which clarifies the 'two-state' policy by introducing a new territory clause and removing the clause on national reunification.

On the 29th, when President Lee Jae-myung commuted to the Blue House, marking the official start of the Blue House era again after 3 years and 7 months, the Bonghwanggi flag was raised at the Blue House in Seoul. 2025.12.29 Photo by Cho Yong-jun

A Blue House official stated on the 7th, "We will comprehensively review matters related to the recent constitutional amendment in North Korea," and added, "Based on this comprehensive review, the government will continue to consistently pursue its policy of peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula."

In March, North Korea amended its constitution to introduce a new territory clause. By explicitly defining the area north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone as its own territory, North Korea has legally codified the 'two-state' system. All references to reunification that previously existed were also removed.

Lee Jeongcheol, a professor at Seoul National University, introduced the main points of North Korea’s constitutional amendment during a meeting with the Unification Ministry press corps at the Seoul Government Complex on the 6th. This is the first time that North Korea has specified its territory in its constitution. Article 2 of North Korea’s amended constitution states: "The territory of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is defined as the land bordering the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation to the north, and the Republic of Korea to the south, including the territorial waters and airspace established on this basis. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea never allows any infringement upon its territory."

Article 1 of the North Korean constitution now states, "The name of our country is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea." Expressions such as "an independent socialist state," which were included in the previous Article 1, have been removed. In this constitutional amendment, North Korea also changed the title from "Socialist Constitution" to simply "Constitution."

Initially, all phrases referring to reunification, such as "striving to achieve national reunification based on the principle of great national unity," were removed from the preamble. The sections listing the achievements of previous leaders, such as Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, were also omitted in this amendment.

However, North Korea's new constitution does not contain any hostile expressions toward South Korea. Around January 2024, in a policy address to the Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated, "It is important to reflect in the constitution the issue of completely occupying, pacifying, and reclaiming the Republic of Korea in the event of war, and incorporating it into the territory of the republic." During this period, he frequently used expressions openly expressing hostility, such as "complete pacification of all South Korean territory."

Professor Lee explained, "While new expressions emphasizing the territory clause and the declaration of the state have emerged, there are no terms indicating a hostile relationship or belligerent character toward South Korea." He added, "We can cautiously hope that this may lay the groundwork for peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.