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North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on the 3rd that the 15th National Conference of Teachers opened grandly in Pyongyang on the 2nd. / Yonhap News

North Korea has codified and expanded the authority of State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un in his capacity as general secretary of the Workers' Party through an amendment to its supreme code, the Party Rules, while fully scrapping its long-standing reunification line toward the South, it was confirmed.

The Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) disclosed the full text of the amended Party Rules along with its analytical findings on the 3rd during a press conference held at Dalgaebi House in Jung-gu, Seoul, under the theme "Analysis of the Revised Party Rules of North Korea's 9th Party Congress and Assessment of North Korean Affairs."

According to the INSS, North Korea completed the removal of symbolic expressions honoring its predecessor leaders during the 9th Party Congress, erasing from the preamble references to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il's achievements and titles such as "Great Leader." This effort to phase out the predecessor leaders' iconography, which began at the 8th Party Congress in 2021, is assessed to have concluded with this revision. Consequently, the preamble highlights that the Workers' Party realizes socialism and communism under Chairman Kim Jong-un as its head.

Chairman Kim's authority and competencies as general secretary were also institutionalized within the Party Rules. The INSS explained that the party's leadership and control were strengthened by establishing new powers for Chairman Kim, including convening and presiding over Political Bureau meetings, appointing and dismissing senior party cadres, approving admissions and expulsions of full and candidate party members, and dissolving party organizations. This marks the first time that the Party Rules have laid out the detailed competencies and authorities of the general secretary.

The INSS analyzed that "the amended party rules effectively represent the charter of 'Kim Jong-un's Workers' Party,' codifying the party's identity as being led by Kim as its head. By institutionalizing powers previously exercised ex officio by the party under Kim's instructions, it established the justification and norms for Kim Jong-un's monolithic leadership system."

Notably, new clauses defining the qualifications and obligations of members of the party's leadership organs during wartime were introduced. The core of these provisions stipulates that the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee may decide on key issues during wartime. The INSS assessed that "incorporating wartime provisions into the party rules appears to reflect political justifications, such as the abandonment of the reunification line toward the South."

The formal abandonment of the reunification line was also confirmed.

While intelligence authorities previously disclosed that North Korea reflected the "two-state doctrine" in its party rules during the Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee in June 2024, this marks the first time that the complete abandonment of the reunification line toward the South has been officially verified through the release of the latest full text of the rules.

The INSS stated, "North Korea explicitly showed its intent to transition toward two separate states by removing language regarding unification by force from the party rules. However, it did not codify the phrasing 'two hostile states,' which is interpreted as leaving room for peaceful inter-Korean relations in the future."

                                                                                                            Mok Yong-jae