Seoul, October 6 (IANS). North Korea is set to hold an important parliamentary meeting on Monday, where changes to its constitution are expected to be made. These changes may include removing provisions related to integration and clarifying the country’s territorial boundaries, especially maritime boundaries.
The 11th session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) will discuss these amendments, Yonhap news agency reported. Nine months ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un redefined North and South Korea’s relations as “two enemy countries” and said South Korea would no longer be considered a partner for reconciliation and unification.
Earlier at the SPA meeting in January, Kim had called for changes to the constitution to officially declare South Korea the “permanent main enemy” of North Korea and to completely annex the South in the event of war. A plan can be made to do so.
According to Kim’s instructions, it has been ordered to remove any provisions related to unification from the Constitution and to include the country’s territorial boundaries, especially the maritime boundary.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry has said North Korea might cancel old inter-Korean agreements, including the 1991 Basic Agreement. The agreement defined the two countries’ relations as a “special relationship”, created in the process of unification, and not as state-to-state relations.
There is also speculation that changes to North Korea’s constitution could focus on the forceful takeover of South Korea in the event of war by removing provisions related to unification, shared ethnicity and race.
Specific details of the changes were not immediately known, as North Korea has previously delayed disclosing constitutional amendments.
As far as the maritime boundary is concerned, North Korea will probably present it vaguely, so that it can clarify its stance through laws in the future.
Since adopting the socialist constitution in 1972, North Korea has amended it 10 times, with the last amendment being made in September last year.
–IANS
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