Seoul: North Korea's revised constitution has added a new territorial clause and dropped all references to unification with South Korea, a document showed Wednesday, underscoring Pyongyang's push toward a "two hostile states" policy.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the revised constitution, reviewed at a press conference held at the unification ministry, 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. It did not, however, elaborate on the long-disputed maritime border between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea, especially around the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border.

North Korea first adopted its constitution in September 1948 and amended it five times before introducing the socialist constitution in 1972. After 12 further amendments, it revised the document again this March, dropping "socialist" from the title. Notably, the constitution did not identify South Korea as a "primary foe," contradicting the widely held assumption that it would do so following North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's earlier characterization of Seoul as an enemy.

In line with Kim's two-state stance, all references to reunification, including terms such as "peaceful reunification" and "great national unity," have been eliminated from the constitution. It also dropped the achievements of late state founder Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the current leader's late father.

At the conference, Professor Lee Jung-chul, a North Korea expert at Seoul National University, said the constitution appeared to signal Pyongyang's willingness to project an image of a "normal" state. He viewed the revision positively, saying it laid the groundwork for "peaceful coexistence" between the two Koreas, noting the absence of any hostile language toward Seoul.

The constitution also elevated the status and power of its leader, president of the state affairs commission, designating him "head of state" and placing him above the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) in the constitutional order of state institutions for the first time. A new clause was added granting the president of the state affairs commission command over the country's nuclear forces, including the power to delegate that authority.

The revision further stripped the SPA of its power to recall the president of the state affairs commission, effectively eliminating its nominal oversight role.