N. Korea drops unification goal, cements Kim as sole leader in revised party charter

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SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has stripped references to "peaceful unification" with South Korea from the charter of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the full text of the document showed Thursday, in line with Pyongyang's redefinition of inter-Korean ties as those between "two hostile" states.

The text, released by Seoul's Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), is the first public disclosure of the charter in full.

South Korea's intelligence authorities have previously said the charter was revised in June 2024 to reflect the North's new stance, but the actual language had not been made public until now.

The released text also includes updates adopted at the WPK's ninth congress in February.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends the ninth congress of the Workers' Party of Korea on Feb. 22, 2026, in this Korean Central News Agency file photo published the following day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

The revised WPK rules strengthens the authority of leader Kim Jong-un, while removing references to the achievements of his predecessors, the late state founder Kim Il-sung and his father Kim Jong-il. The change is widely interpreted as an effort to cement the third-generation leader's standing as the party's sole and unchallenged leader.

Beyond unification, the charter also removed mentions of the U.S. military presence in South Korea and of "outside forces," in a move seen as reinforcing Pyongyang's position that the two Koreas are entirely separate states and no longer bound by a shared national identity.

At the Supreme People's Assembly session in January 2024, Kim ordered the constitution to be revised, saying "peaceful unification" with the South was no longer possible and that the concept of the Korean nation as one state should be removed. In October that year, Pyongyang confirmed its constitutional revisions.

The charter also spells out the authority of the WPK's general secretary in greater detail, including the power to convene meetings and to appoint and dismiss officials or dissolve party departments.

A newly added clause allows the party to skip internal elections during wartime, and raised the minimum party membership age from 18 to 20.

One detail remains unclear: who holds the post of first secretary, a position created at the eighth party congress in 2021 to serve as Kim's official proxy. The INSS said it believes Jo Yong-won, secretary of the party's Central Committee, is likely filling that role.

According to the INSS, these changes reflect Pyongyang's efforts to transition into the "Kim Jong-un Era 2.0" marking his nearly 15 years in power.

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr (END)

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N. Korea drops unification goal, cements Kim as sole leader in revised party charter

这将使谷歌能够向您展示与您的搜索匹配或相关的韩联社新闻文章。

首尔，9月3日（韩联社）——周四公布的文件全文显示，朝鲜已从其执政的朝鲜劳动党（WPK）党章中删除了与韩国“和平统一”的表述，这与平壤将朝韩关系重新定义为“两个敌对国家”之间的关系相一致。

这份由首尔国家安全战略研究院（INSS）发布的文本，是该宪章首次完整公开。

韩国情报部门此前曾表示，该宪章已于 2024 年 6 月进行了修订，以反映朝鲜的新立场，但实际内容直到现在才对外公布。

公布的文本还包括朝鲜劳动党2月份召开的第九次代表大会通过的更新内容。

2026年2月22日，朝鲜领导人金正恩出席朝鲜劳动党第九次代表大会。这张由朝鲜中央通讯社于次日发布的资料照片显示，朝鲜领导人金正恩出席了大会。（仅限韩国境内使用，禁止转载）（韩联社）

修订后的朝鲜劳动党章程强化了领导人金正恩的权威，同时删除了对其前任领导人——已故建国者金日成及其父金正日——成就的提及。这一变化被广泛解读为旨在巩固第三代领导人金正恩作为党内唯一且无可争议的领导人的地位。

除了统一之外，该宪章还删除了有关美国在韩国的军事存在和“外部势力”的表述，此举被视为强化了平壤的立场，即朝鲜半岛南北是完全独立的国家，不再受共同的民族认同所束缚。

2024年1月，金正恩在最高人民会议上下令修改宪法，称与韩国“和平统一”已不可能，并要求废除朝鲜民族作为一个统一国家的概念。同年10月，平壤方面确认了宪法修正案。

该章程还更详细地规定了朝鲜劳动党总书记的权力，包括召集会议、任命和罢免官员或解散党务部门的权力。

新增条款允许该党在战时跳过内部选举，并将最低党员年龄从 18 岁提高到 20 岁。

还有一个细节尚不明确：谁将担任第一书记一职？该职位是在2021年党的第八次代表大会上设立的，旨在作为金正恩的官方代理人。国家安全局表示，他们认为党中央委员会书记赵容元很可能担任这一职务。

根据国家安全局的说法，这些变化反映了平壤为过渡到“金正恩时代 2.0”所做的努力，标志着金正恩执政近 15 年。

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr (完)

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朝鲜放弃统一目标，修订党章巩固金正恩的唯一领导人地位