SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) — North Korea has significantly tamped down its hostility toward South Korea in its recently revised constitution, while maintaining leader Kim Jong-un’s stance on treating the Koreas as two states, Seoul’s spy agency said Thursday.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the assessment during a closed-door briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee, according to Rep. Park Sun-won of the ruling Democratic Party.
“Although (North Korea’s constitution) mentioned that (the North) will never tolerate any infringement on its territory bordering the Republic of Korea, there were no hostile remarks toward the South whatsoever,” the lawmaker quoted the NIS as saying, referring to South Korea by its official name.
“While it made the two-states stance clear, it significantly toned down hostility (toward the South).”
The revised constitution also stopped short of describing the South as an enemy or a target to be taken down in the event of a war, the NIS noted, according to the lawmaker.
The constitution shows that the North is clearly seeking to sever ties with the South but signals an intention to “maintain the status quo and manage the situation” rather than adopting an offensive posture, according to the agency.
North Korea’s constitution, revised in March and released by Seoul’s unification ministry on Tuesday, reflected Kim’s policy shift unveiled in 2023 that regards the South as a separate country rather than a partner for eventual unification.
The constitution showed that North Korea has defined its territory as the land bordering China and Russia to the north and South Korea to the south, along with its adjacent territorial waters and airspace.
National Intelligence Service chief Lee Jong-seok (C) attends a plenary session of the intelligence committee at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 7, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
julesyi@yna.co.kr
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