‘Kim Jong-un Era 2.0.’: North Korea drops reunification goal from party charter

North Korea formalises shift to 'two hostile states,' removes reunification from party charter North Korea has formally removed its goal of reunification with South Korea from the charter of its ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, while expanding leader Kim Jong-un’s authority and further erasing references to the legacy of his predecessors.The revised charter, released in full for the first time on Thursday by South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), provides the clearest documentary evidence yet of Pyongyang’s shift towards treating the two Koreas as “two hostile states.”The document removes references to “peaceful reunification of the country,” “united front,” “South Korea,” “great national unity” and pursuing political goals on a nationwide scale. It also deletes language calling for the withdrawal of US forces from South Korea and opposing foreign interference in the South.The changes reflect a policy shift announced by Kim in late 2023, when he declared that relations with Seoul were between two hostile states rather than two parts of a single nation. In January 2024, Kim called for constitutional provisions on peaceful reunification to be removed, with Pyon...