North Korea Territorial Clause Added as Constitution Drops Unification Language

North Korea’s amended constitution reportedly includes a new territorial clause that defines the country as bordering China and Russia to the north and the Republic of Korea to the south. The revision also removes previous references to unification, marking a legal shift away from language long associated with North Korea Reunification and toward a two-state framework promoted by Kim Jong Un since late 2023.¹

The reported changes were described in South Korean and international coverage after constitutional materials were reviewed and explained in a briefing for the Unification Ministry press corps. Reuters, citing a draft reviewed in connection with the amendment, reported that the changes appear to have been adopted at a Supreme People’s Assembly session in March 2026.²

New North Korea Territorial Clause

The central change is the addition of a territorial provision. The amended text is reported to define North Korea’s territory as the area bordering China and Russia to the north and the Republic of Korea to the south. Korea JoongAng Daily reported that the clause also covers corresponding territorial waters and airspace.³

That wording is significant because it identifies the Republic of Korea as the southern neighbor rather than describing the peninsula through a single national or ethnic frame. KBS World reported that the revision reflects Kim Jong Un’s two-state doctrine and limits North Korea’s sovereign scope to the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.⁴

Reuters reported that Lee Jung-chul, a professor of political science and international relations at Seoul National University, said this is the first time a territorial clause has been included in North Korea’s constitution.² Seoul Shinmun also reported that Lee explained the March amendment during a May 6 briefing at the Government Complex Seoul for reporters covering the Unification Ministry.⁵

Reports also noted what the clause does not do. Yonhap News Agency reported that while the amendment reflects Kim’s two-state line, the revised constitution did not include wording that explicitly names South Korea as a hostile state.¹

Unification References Removed

The territorial clause comes alongside deletions of older constitutional language tied to national unification. Yonhap’s comparison of North Korean constitutional provisions said the 2026 amended constitution removed phrases from the preamble crediting Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il with achievements related to state-building and unification.⁶

The same comparison reported deletions of earlier expressions including “northern half,” “complete victory of socialism,” and language tied to the “three principles of national reunification.” The comparison was presented as a contrast between the September 2023 constitution and the 2026 amended constitution.⁶

Article 9 was also reported to have changed. Seoul Shinmun said North Korea deleted language related to national reunification from Article 9 while adding the new territorial clause.⁵ KBS World similarly reported that expressions connected to inter-Korean ethnic commonality and national unification were removed from the amended constitution disclosed at the briefing.⁴

The changes align with Kim Jong Un’s position, announced at the end of 2023, that inter-Korean relations should be treated as relations between two states. Reuters described the constitutional revision as a move to legalize that approach by treating the two Koreas as separate countries.²

Two-State Doctrine Becomes Constitutional Language

The constitutional language does not appear in isolation. It follows a political line that has already been publicly associated with Kim Jong Un’s late-2023 shift away from reunification as a policy objective. Yonhap reported that the amendment reflects the two-state line but stops short of inserting an explicit hostile-state designation for South Korea.¹

Korea JoongAng Daily also reported additional changes beyond the territorial and unification provisions, including reduced limits on Kim Jong Un’s powers and language specifying command authority over nuclear forces.³ Those points were reported as part of the broader constitutional revision, though the territorial clause and removal of unification references remain the most direct changes tied to inter-Korean status.

The available reports point to a narrower constitutional definition of North Korea’s sovereign space and a formal retreat from older constitutional language that treated unification as a central state objective. For readers tracking North Korea Reunification policy, the amendment is important because it places the two-state approach into the legal text rather than leaving it only as political rhetoric.

The reported amendment therefore marks a notable legal development in North Korea’s inter-Korean policy. By adding a territorial clause and deleting unification-related expressions, the revised constitution gives formal shape to a two-state framework while defining South Korea as the state on North Korea’s southern border.

작성자 소개

Cloi Lee

Author

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