An analysis of the text by a South Korean policy research institution found the update did not contain expressions hostile to the South.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is seen during ruling Workers’ Party meeting in a broadcast televised on Aug. 26 by Korean Central Television.
YONHAP

North Korea’s revised Workers’ Party charter — a governing document that in practice outranks its constitution — strips out language on unification and inter-Korean relations while spelling out expanded powers for leader Kim Jong-un, according to an analysis of the text released Thursday by a Seoul-based state think tank. 

The full text of the revised charter, released by the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) for the first time, also creates a new set of wartime provisions, further cementing a governing structure centered on Kim.

The revisions were made during North Korea’s ninth Party Congress in February. 

All language related to inter-Korean relations and unification is now gone. A passage in the preamble that previously said the party upholds the values of nationalism and great national unity to hasten peaceful reunification and achieve common prosperity was deleted, along with language calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea and the rejection of foreign forces in the South.

The revision did not, however, introduce new hostile language directly targeting the South. The omission “reduces the burden that would come with formally codifying hostility or a state of war, and leaves room for future inter-Korean relations,” said Kim Il-gi, director of the INSS’s peace and coexistence strategy center.

South Korean soldiers look at North Korea through binoculars at the Odusan Unification Observation Deck in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Aug. 19.
YONHAP

Wartime provisions were added to the charter for the first time, allowing the party’s leading organizations to operate without elections during wartime and empowering the General Political Bureau of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Central Committee to deliberate and decide on important matters on behalf of the plenary session.

“Enshrining wartime provisions in the party charter emphasizes the routinization and normalization of war preparedness,” director Kim said. “It can be seen as a trade-off for deleting the theory of South Korean revolution and unification.”

The charter also spells out expanded powers for the general secretary post that Kim Jong-un holds. The preamble keeps the name of its previous leaders — the late state founder Kim Il Sung and the current leader’s father, Kim Jong-il — but emphasizes a shift in direction centered on the “supreme leader.” Four new provisions specify the general secretary’s authority to convene and preside over General Political Bureau and Standing Committee meetings and to directly appoint and dismiss key officials.

The INSS interpreted the changes as institutional groundwork not only for reinforcing the current system but also for an eventual succession of power.

“This specifies the supreme leader’s powers and reflects them in the governing code in order to smoothly transfer power to a future leader, or successor,” the director said.

Language was also added to the preamble establishing politics, organization, ideology, discipline and work style as the party’s five guiding party-building concepts. The minimum age for Workers’ Party membership was raised from 18 to 20.

“North Korea used its ninth Party Congress to complete the reorganization of its governing code, made up of the party charter, the constitution and the Ten Principles,” said INSS director Kim. “This institutionalizes the governing code of ‘the Kim Jong-un era 2.0.'”

BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.