For more than thirty years, North Korea's constitution promised that the divided Korean Peninsula would one day be reunited through peaceful means and national unity.
That promise has now disappeared. On May 6, 2026, South Korea's Ministry of Unification released North Korea's revised constitution. Every reference to reunification had been deleted. The language that had existed since 1992, calling for national reunification based on independence and unity, was completely removed.
Instead, the new constitution includes something North Korea had never had before: a clause that officially defines its borders. The new Article 2 names South Korea as a separate state next door, not as the other half of one nation. North Korea declares it will not allow any infringement on its territory.
This change represents a major shift. The Korean Peninsula was divided after World War II in 1945 and split into two states in 1948. The Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953, meaning the countries remain technically at war. For decades, both governments said the division was temporary.
Kim Jong Un, North Korea's leader since 2011, declared in December 2023 that the two Koreas were now hostile states. The new constitution makes this official. It also establishes Kim Jong Un's absolute control over North Korea's nuclear weapons and requires an automatic nuclear strike if the leader is killed in a hostile attack.
Meanwhile, South Korea's president Lee Jae-myung, who took office in 2025, has offered to hold talks with the North without conditions. No response has been received.