{"id":53160,"date":"2026-06-15T06:43:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T06:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/53160\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T06:43:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T06:43:31","slug":"why-the-changes-to-north-koreas-constitution-should-scare-us-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/53160\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the changes to North Korea\u2019s constitution should scare us all"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several recent changes to North Korea\u2019s constitution<\/a>, which the Supreme People\u2019s Assembly adopted in March<\/a>, have raised eyebrows and promoted considerable speculation and debate. The changes delete four articles from the previous version and amend 64 others.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 respectively Kim\u2019s grandfather and father. It adds \u201cnational interest protection as an unwavering principle\u201d to North Korea\u2019s existing principles of \u201cindependence, peace and friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new addition reflects Kim\u2019s approach to foreign policy that increasingly balances<\/a> the country\u2019s longstanding dependence upon China with increasingly close ties to Russia.<\/p>\n

The second change drops all previous references to \u201cwartime pacification,\u201d\u00a0a staple of previous constitutions that were issued during the regimes of Kim\u2019s father and grandfather and that envisaged reunification of the Korean peninsula based on common ethnicity. Instead, a 2024 amendment to the constitution termed<\/a> South Korea a \u201chostile state\u201d and dropped reunification as a North Korean objective.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cabsolutely does not permit any encroachment upon its territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third change redefines Kim\u2019s formal position as President of the State Affairs Commission from \u201cSupreme Leader\u201d to \u201cHead of State.\u201d For the first time, Kim is formally placed before<\/a> the Supreme People\u2019s Assembly in the order of state institutions. The amendment also transfers from the president of the assembly\u2019s Standing Committee to Kim personally the authority to receive credentials and letters of recall from foreign ambassadors.\u00a0 The change reflects the longstanding reality that only Kim, like his predecessors, represents the state.<\/p>\n

The same amendment includes other changes that solidify Kim\u2019s longstanding role as the country\u2019s unchallenged leader. It specifies that only Kim, as president of the State Affairs Commission, can appoint or dismiss key officials, including the chairman of the Supreme People\u2019s Assembly and its deputies, as well as the premier of the Cabinet. Previously these powers had been assigned to the Supreme People\u2019s Assembly.<\/p>\n

The amendment deletes the provision that would have the president answerable to the Supreme People\u2019s Assembly and removes the Assembly\u2019s authority to recall the president. It grants Kim the ability to veto the Assembly\u2019s decisions. Most importantly, for the first time, it not only codifies Kim\u2019s leadership of the armed forces, but also it explicitly stipulates Kim\u2019s sole authority over the use of nuclear weapons without reference to any other government body.<\/p>\n

Changes in constitutional language can mean very little. The 1936 Soviet constitution<\/a>, formulated under Stalin\u2019s leadership went further than any similar document in its extensive guarantees of civil rights that did not at all exist in practice. Even as the Kremlin released this document, Stalin was launching<\/a> what became known as the Great Terror, which resulted in the death of millions.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the language in the constitution that codifies Kim\u2019s power, and especially his taking sole control of North Korea\u2019s expanding nuclear weapons program with no checks on his decision-making, is far from meaningless. Simply stated, it increases the risk of a nuclear crisis. As a senior South Korean analyst has put it<\/a>, \u201cnuclear weapons are no longer simply a deterrent against the United States or a bargaining chip in diplomatic negotiations. They are now an offensive instrument \u2026 with a lowered threshold for use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, North Korea has drawn upon its experience negotiating with the U.S. to advise Tehran how to manage its own talks with Washington. As a South Korean official indicated to me last week, North Korea is telling the Iranians, \u201cNo matter what, tell the USA that you will not give up nuclear weapons \u2026 the U.S. [negotiators] underestimate how much you can sacrifice the people\u2019s life by having nuclear weapons. \u2026 Cheating the USA will be the first priority, easy to cheat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Seoul is evaluating the implications of the North\u2019s constitutional amendments. Sung-lac Wi, South Korea\u2019s national security advisor, informed me earlier this week that \u201cwe do take into account North Korea\u2019s Constitution with notable revisions. It is my government\u2019s position that we will continue to consistently pursue policies for peaceful co-existence on the Korean Peninsula.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether the North also intends to pursue peaceful coexistence, having designated the South as a \u201chostile state,\u201d and especially in light of its reported advice to Iran on negotiations with the U.S., is very much an open question. For that reason, and to ensure that Kim does not employ his nuclear arsenal pre-emptively, Washington\u2019s commitment to South Korea\u2019s security must remain ironclad.<\/p>\n

Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several recent changes to North Korea\u2019s constitution, which the Supreme People\u2019s Assembly adopted in March, have raised eyebrows…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4343,446,30384,31,34,33,4724],"class_list":["post-53160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-constitution","tag-kim-il-sung","tag-kim-jung-il","tag-korea","tag-north-korea","tag-south-korea","tag-supreme-peoples-assembly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}