North Korea revises constitution to drop references to unification of Korean Peninsula, names Kim head of nuclear forces

North Korea has revised its constitution to define its territory as bordering South Korea and remove references to reunification, according to a draft of the text reviewed by Reuters, codifying leader Kim Jong Un’s push to treat the two Koreas as separate states.

The revision, believed to have been adopted at a March meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly, Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp legislature, marks the first time North Korea has added a territorial clause to its constitution, Lee Jung-chul, a Seoul National University professor, told a briefing at South Korea’s Unification Ministry on Wednesday.

The new Article 2 says North Korea’s territory includes land “bordering the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation to the north and the Republic of Korea to the south,” as well as territorial waters and airspace based on that land, according to the text.