North Korea Removes 'Unification' from Constitution, Adds Territorial Clause... Formalizes 'Two-State' System

by Son Seonhee

Published 06 May.2026 14:39(KST)

Updated 06 May.2026 16:41(KST)

It has been determined that North Korea amended its constitution in March to introduce a new territorial clause. By explicitly stating that the area north of the Korean Peninsula's Demilitarized Zone is its own territory, North Korea has legally codified the existence of "two states" on the peninsula. All previous references to reunification have also been removed.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Screen capture from Korean Central Television / Yonhap News Agency

On May 6, Professor Lee Jungchul of Seoul National University held a briefing with the Ministry of Unification press corps at the Government Complex Seoul, introducing the main points of North Korea's constitutional amendment. This is the first time North Korea has defined its own territory in its constitution. Article 2 of the 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, as well as the territorial waters and airspace established on the basis of this land. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea will never tolerate any infringement of its territory."

Article 1 of the North Korean constitution now simply states, "The name of our country is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea." Previous terms such as "an independent socialist state," which were part of Article 1 in the prior constitution, have been removed. During this amendment process, North Korea also changed the name of its constitution from "Socialist Constitution" to simply "Constitution."

Initially, all phrases mentioning reunification, such as "striving for national reunification on the principle of great national unity," were deleted from the preamble. Sections listing the achievements of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were also omitted in this revision.

However, North Korea's new constitution does not include hostile language toward South Korea. In his policy address at the Supreme People's Assembly in January 2024, 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, and incorporating it into the territory of the republic in the event of war." Around this period, he frequently used direct expressions such as "complete pacification of all South Korean territory." Professor Lee noted, "Although new territorial clauses and expressions emphasizing a national declaration have emerged, there are no terms indicating hostile relations or the nature of an armed conflict with South Korea." He added, "This could be seen as the establishment of a potential infrastructure for peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas, offering a hopeful outlook."

Nevertheless, North Korea's constitutional territorial clause conflicts with the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, and it is likely to become a point of contention as inter-Korean relations develop in the future. Article 3 of the South Korean constitution states, "The territory of the Republic of Korea shall consist of the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands." Article 4 further stipulates, "The Republic of Korea shall seek reunification and shall formulate and carry out a policy of peaceful reunification based on the basic order of liberal democracy." In response to criticism that the Lee Jaemyung administration's "peaceful coexistence" policy may be inconsistent with the constitutional aim of reunification, Professor Lee maintained an ambiguous stance, saying, "It is a matter of which article-3 or 4-should be interpreted as primary. Even the Supreme Court has made different judgments depending on the situation and context, so I don't think there is any reason to make a definitive conclusion based solely on those provisions."

Another noteworthy aspect is that, for the first time, the North Korean constitution explicitly grants the authority to use nuclear weapons to the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission. Article 89 of the North Korean constitution states, "The command over the nuclear forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea... resides with the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission." This makes it clear that the supreme command over all military forces possessed by the state is held by the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, currently Kim Jong Un. As the representative of North Korea as a state, the powers of the Chairman have been significantly strengthened.