Kim Jong-un has been formally granted direct command of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal under a revised constitution that also entrenches his government’s hardline position towards South Korea.
The updated document appeared briefly on Wednesday on Naenara, the regime’s official propaganda website, more than two years after Pyongyang removed the previous version from public view.
A note accompanying the Korean-language text said the amendments were adopted on March 23 at the first session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature.
The changes explicitly place the country’s nuclear forces under Kim’s direct command, elevating his personal authority and giving constitutional force to his control of the nuclear arsenal.
The revised text also formalises Kim’s “two hostile states” doctrine, abandoning the long-standing principle that the two Koreas should ultimately be peacefully reunified. References to reconciliation and shared national identity have been removed, while a new territorial clause defines South Korea as a separate neighbouring foreign state.
The changes reflect a sharp shift in Pyongyang’s approach to the South. In early 2024, Kim ordered officials to rewrite the constitution, declaring that relations between the two countries should no longer be treated as those between members of the same nation, but as relations between hostile states.
The precise wording of the amendments had remained secret until the latest publication. The text largely matches a leaked version obtained by South Korea’s unification ministry and released in May, which had indicated that North Korea was redefining its territorial boundaries and strengthening Kim’s control over nuclear forces.
The document also contains smaller changes to the workings of the regime. It stipulates that major decisions concerning the Cabinet’s responsibilities and powers must be taken at full plenary meetings, while routine business can be handled by smaller standing meetings.
The publication comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula and continued resistance from Pyongyang to diplomatic overtures by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
On Tuesday, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, attacked United Nations secretary-general António Guterres as “prejudiced and irresponsible” after he called for dialogue between the two Koreas following a recent landmine explosion near the border.
The revised constitution provides a formal expression of the North’s increasingly confrontational stance, while placing the country’s nuclear command structure more explicitly in the hands of its leader.
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