N. Korea amends constitution at parliamentary meeting without disclosing details

North Korea has convened a key parliamentary meeting to revise the constitution, state media reported Wednesday, without disclosing details about whether it removed unification-related clauses or stipulated territorial boundaries in line with an order by leader Kim Jong-un.

At the 11th session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly Monday and Tuesday in Pyongyang, North Korea unanimously decided to amend and supplement parts of the country's socialist constitution, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

But state media did not mention whether the country clarified the territorial boundaries, including the maritime border, and deleted references to unification in a revised constitution, as ordered by Kim in January. He also did not attend this week's SPA meeting.

At an SPA meeting in January, Kim called for revising the constitution to define South Korea as the country's "invariable principal enemy" and to codify the commitment to "completely occupying" South Korean territory in the event of war.

In a year-end party meeting in December, the North's leader voiced animosity toward the South by defining inter-Korean relations as those between "two states hostile to each other." He said there is no point in seeking reconciliation and unification with South Korea.

Under a key inter-Korean agreement signed in 1991, inter-Korean ties are defined as a "special relationship" tentatively formed in the process of seeking reunification, not as state-to-state relations.

Experts said North Korea may postpone the constitutional amendment designed to formalize Kim's "two hostile states" stance until the next parliamentary meeting after electing new SPA deputies.

"There is a possibility that North Korea may adjust the timing of such a revision to after forming the 15th SPA in a bid to politically use the outcome of the US presidential election to the maximum," Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, said.

As North Korea elected deputies to the 14th SPA for a five-year term in March 2019, it was supposed to pick new deputies in March. But the regime has not even made a public notice for the schedule to elect new SPA deputies.

Meanwhile, North Korea replaced the defense minister at the SPA meeting.

No Kwang-chol, who led the defense ministry in 2018-2019, was appointed again as the defense minister to succeed Kang Sun-nam.

No served as the defense minister at the height of North Korea's summit diplomacy with South Korea and the US. He accompanied the North's leader on his trips to Singapore in 2018 and Vietnam in 2019 for talks with then US President Donald Trump. (Yonhap)