North Korea Amends Constitution to Define Southern Border with South Korea and Assign Nuclear Command to Leader Kim Jong Un
The South Korean intelligence agency said that the changes clarify the existence of two separate states on the peninsula while containing no hostile language directed at the South.
KOREAN PENINSULA, North Korea has amended its Socialist Constitution to introduce the country’s first explicit territorial definition while removing all references to reunification, national unity, and the achievements of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.
The amendments assign command authority over nuclear forces to the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission and allow delegation of that authority to a national nuclear warfare command organization.
Kim Jong Un was re-elected president of the State Affairs Commission during the same session. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service and Blue House have since assessed the changes, clarifying the existence of two separate states on the peninsula while noting the absence of hostile language toward the South.
These changes carry implications for nuclear command continuity in potential crisis scenarios and for the formal recognition of a two-state reality on the peninsula.
The revisions build directly on the 2022 Act on Nuclear Forces Policy, which already outlined conditions for nuclear use, by elevating the command structure to constitutional status without adding new operational triggers for automatic retaliation.
