Why the changes to North Korea’s constitution should scare us all

Several recent changes to North Korea’s constitution, which the Supreme People’s Assembly adopted in March, have raised eyebrows and promoted considerable speculation and debate. The changes delete four articles from the previous version and amend 64 others.

Three amended articles in particular have attracted attention both in Seoul and internationally. The first change deletes all references to the reunification efforts of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il — respectively Kim’s grandfather and father. It adds “national interest protection as an unwavering principle” to North Korea’s existing principles of “independence, peace and friendship.”

The new addition reflects Kim’s approach to foreign policy that increasingly balances the country’s longstanding dependence upon China with increasingly close ties to Russia.

The second change drops all previous references to “wartime pacification,” a staple of previous constitutions that were issued during the regimes of Kim’s father and grandfather and that envisaged reunification of the Korean peninsula based on common ethnicity. Instead, a 2024 amendment to the constitution termed South Korea a “hostile state” and dropped reunification as a North Korean objective.

The 2026 amended constitution reflects that view. It says nothing about unification and simply identifies the Republic of Korea as a separate state on its southern border and adds that North Korea “absolutely does not permit any encroachment upon its territory.”

The third change redefines Kim’s formal position as President of the State Affairs Commission from “Supreme Leader” to “Head of State.” For the first time, Kim is........

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