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VIEW FROM A DISTANCE A man looks through binoculars toward the North Korean side of the border from Tongilchon village, near the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in the city of Paju, Gyeonggi province, northwestern South Korea, on Dec. 25, 2025. EPA FILE PHOTO<\/p>\n
North Korean officials considered constitutional amendments at a major congress in March, where leader Kim Jong Un labeled Seoul the \u201cmost hostile state.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The deleted clause used to say the nuclear-armed nation would struggle for \u201cnational reunification on the principles of independence, peaceful reunification, and great national unity.\u201d<\/p>\n The revised constitution, which the document indicated was introduced in March, also includes a new clause delineating North Korea\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n Using South Korea\u2019s official name, it says that includes the area bordering China and Russia to the north, \u201cand the Republic of Korea to the south.\u201d<\/p>\n North Korea \u201cabsolutely does not allow any infringement on its territory,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s dovish President Lee Jae Myung has called for talks with the North without any preconditions, saying the countries are destined \u201cto make the flowers of peace bloom.\u201d<\/p>\n But the North has not responded to the Lee administration\u2019s overtures and has repeatedly called the South its \u201cmost hostile\u201d adversary.<\/p>\n That language has echoed a constitutional amendment in 2024, when Pyongyang defined the South as a \u201chostile state\u201d for the first time.<\/p>\n \u2018Leave us alone\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBy deleting references related to unification, North Korea appears to have codified the message that it will no longer seek to claim South Korean territory,\u201d said Yang Moo-jin, a professor emeritus at Seoul\u2019s University of North Korean Studies.<\/p>\n In turn, Pyongyang \u201cexpects the South not to infringe on the North\u2019s territory,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n During the administration of Lee\u2019s hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol, the North blew up roads and railways linking it with the South and erected what appeared to be barriers near the border.<\/p>\n Seoul\u2019s military said in March this year that North Korea had resumed similar construction work in the area.<\/p>\n Kim has vowed to boost his nuclear forces, and Pyongyang conducted four missile tests in April, the most in a single month for more than two years.<\/p>\n In February, Kim said North Korea has \u201cabsolutely no business dealing with South Korea… and will permanently exclude South Korea from the category of compatriots.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as South Korea cannot escape the geopolitical conditions of having a border with us, the only way to live safely is to give up everything related to us and leave us alone,\u201d he added at the time.<\/p>\n In contrast, South Korea\u2019s Lee vowed last month to act \u201cproactively\u201d to restore trust in the hope that Pyongyang would \u201crespond in kind.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite sporadic steps forward \u2014 for instance, a North Korean women\u2019s team will play a rare football match in the South this month \u2014 a grand rapprochement has remained beyond Lee\u2019s grasp.<\/p>\n At the same time, Pyongyang has also drawn closer to Russia, sending troops and artillery shells to support its invasion of Ukraine, with analysts saying Moscow is sending economic and technical assistance in return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL \u2014 North Korea has deleted all references to uniting with South Korea from its constitution, a 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