North Korea's Revised Party Rules Erase Past Leaders, Strengthen Kim Jong-un's Authority, and Drop 'Unification'

It has been confirmed through the full text that North Korea has deleted 'peaceful unification' from the Workers' Party Charter, its highest normative rule, following its declaration of inter-Korean relations as 'two hostile states.'

In addition, instead of highlighting the achievements of predecessors Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the authority and power of the general secretary were strengthened, further solidifying Kim Jong-un's single-leader 'guidance system.'

The Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) held a press briefing today under the theme 'Analysis of North Korea's Revised Party Charter from the 9th Party Congress and Assessment of the North Korean Situation' at Dalgaebee House in Jung-gu, revealing the full text of the revised Workers' Party Charter.

Previously, it was known through intelligence authorities that North Korea had amended its party charter in June 2024 to reflect the 'two states' line, but this is the first time the full text reflecting the revisions from the party congress held in February of this year has been disclosed.

In the revised party charter, passages praising the achievements of predecessors in the preamble regarding 'Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism' were deleted.

Furthermore, in accordance with the 'hostile two states' line, terms related to unification and ethnicity in the existing preamble, such as 'peaceful unification of the homeland,' 'united front,' 'South Korea,' 'great national unity,' and 'all-national scope,' were removed.

With sections related to unification entirely stripped away, references regarding the expulsion of U.S. occupation forces such as 'removal of the aggressive armed forces of U.S. imperialism' and 'U.S. political and military domination over Joseon' also disappeared, reaffirming that inter-Korean relations have been completely severed.

The INSS explained that the deletion of unification and ethnic expressions took place during the party charter revision in June 2024, half a year after North Korea declared the two-states theory.

Regarding the position of general secretary held by Chairman Kim Jong-un, while the previous charter only mentioned comprehensive regulations such as leader, the revised party charter specifically lists the general secretary's authority, including the power to convene meetings, appoint and dismiss officials, expel party members, and dissolve departments.

This is interpreted as further solidifying the monolithic guidance system centered around Chairman Kim by erasing the colors of praising predecessors' achievements and strengthening and specifying the general secretary's authority.

The position of the 'First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party,' which corresponds to the party's number two figure as the 'proxy of the general secretary,' was maintained as is.


Additionally, regarding the process of forming Workers' Party organizations, wartime-related provisions, such as omitting election procedures during wartime, were newly included.

Along with this, the five major lines of party building—namely 'political, organizational, ideological, disciplinary, and work style construction'—were added to the preamble, and the age requirement for joining the Workers' Party was raised from 18 to 20.

The INSS projected that not only the party charter and constitution, but also the 'Ten Principles' have likely been revised and supplemented.

The INSS evaluated that "taking the 9th Party Congress as an opportunity, North Korea has wrapped up the realignment of its governing norms, which consist of the party charter, constitution, and Ten Principles," adding that "the governing norms of the 'Kim Jong-un Era 2.0' have been institutionalized."

(Photo: Korean Central Television screen, Korean Central News Agency, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.