[News Today] NK Constitution codifies ‘2-state’ policy

[LEAD]

North Korea has confirmed that its recently revised Constitution reflects Kim Jong-un's 'two-state' doctrine. The amended Constitution newly defines North Korea's territory as only the northern region, while removing references to reunification.

[REPORT]

Back in March, North Korea revised its Constitution by convening a session of the Supreme People's Assembly, the equivalent to South Korea's National Assembly,

N. Korean Central TV / (Mar. 23)

The amendment of the socialist constitution was approved unanimously.

Unlike the previous version, expressions like national unification and the northern half, which refers to the northern part of the Korean Peninsula based on the premise that the two Koreas are of one people, have disappeared from the revised Constitution.

It has been confirmed that the two-state doctrine is included in the amended version as expected. But the North did not specify hostile relations with South Korea.

However, a new clause defining the North's territory was inserted as notified previously.

It now defines only the northern region as its territory, which borders the Republic of Korea to the south.

It does not mention in detail the definition of territorial waters as well as inter-Korean land and sea borderlines, which can be sources of disputes.

Prof. Lee Jung-chul / Seoul Nat’l Univ.

The North likely sees no reason to cause inter-Korean conflict by highlighting sea borderlines. It may mean a basis for peaceful coexistence of the two Koreas.

The revised Constitution defines the State Affairs Commission chairman as head of state, granting Kim Jong-un formal status as the nation's representative, and for the first time stipulates his authority to use nuclear weapons or delegate that authority to someone else.

The principle of 'protecting national interest', highlighted during the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party, was added to the constitution as an 'unchangeable principle', revealing the regime's determination to pursue national interest first and underlining its transition into a normal state.