Editing Korean reunification (section)

=== The North's abandonment of peaceful reunification; the South revises plan (2024–present) ===
In December 2023, during a speech at the 9th plenum of the [[8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea]], Kim called for a "fundamental turnabout" in North Korea's stance towards South Korea, calling the South the "enemy".<ref name=":3">{{cite news |last1=Seo |first1=Heather |date=31 December 2023 |title=North Korea says it will no longer seek reunification with South Korea, will launch new spy satellites in 2024 |language=en |work=[[CNN]] |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/31/asia/north-korea-reconciliation-south-korea-intl-hnk/index.html |access-date=31 December 2023}}</ref> He stated "the party's comprehensive conclusion after reviewing decades-long inter-Korean relations is that reunification can never be achieved with those ROK riffraffs that defined the 'unification by absorption' and 'unification under [[liberal democracy]]' as their state policy", which he said is in "sharp contradiction with what our line of national reunification was: one nation, one state with two systems".<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Kim |first=Jeongmin |date=1 January 2024 |title=Why North Korea declared unification 'impossible,' abandoning decades-old goal |work=[[NK News]] |url=https://www.nknews.org/2024/01/why-north-korea-declared-unification-impossible-abandoning-decades-old-goal/ |access-date=1 January 2024}}</ref>

Kim cited [[Constitution of South Korea|South Korean constitution]]'s claims over the entire Korean Peninsula and South Korean President [[Yoon Suk Yeol]]'s policy towards the north as evidence that South Korea is an unsuitable partner for reunification.<ref name=":3" /> He said the relations between the two Koreas currently were "states hostile to each other and the relations between two belligerent states" and no longer ones that are "consanguineous or homogeneous",<ref>{{cite news |date=31 December 2023 |title=Reunification with South? No, says North Korea's Kim Jong-un |language=en |work=[[South China Morning Post]] |agency=dpa |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3246812/kim-jong-un-says-north-korea-no-longer-eyeing-reunification-south-warns-war-any-time |access-date=31 December 2023}}</ref> continuing by saying it is "unsuitable" to discuss the issue of reunification "with this strange clan [South Korea], who is no more than a colonial stooge of the U.S. despite the rhetorical word [we used to use] — 'the fellow countrymen." Kim also instructed the WPK on reforming organizations related to inter-Korean relations, including the WPK's [[United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea|United Front Department]].<ref name=":4" />
[[File:Monument-to-National-Reunification-2014.jpg|thumb|[[Arch of Reunification]], demolished in early 2024 in North Korea]]
Kim further confirmed a shift in policy in January 2024, when he gave a speech to the [[Supreme People's Assembly]] (SPA) calling for the [[Constitution of North Korea|constitution]] to be amended to remove references to cooperation and reunification, as well as specify DPRK's territorial borders and add an article specifying the ROK as the most hostile country.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last1=Zwirko |first1=Colin |last2=Kim |first2=Jeongmin |date=16 January 2024 |title=North Korea to redefine border, purge unification language from constitution |url=https://www.nknews.org/2024/01/north-korea-to-destroy-inter-korean-links-redefine-borders-in-constitution/#:~:text=North%20Korea%20will%20change%20its,state%20media%20reported%20on%20Tuesday. |access-date=16 January 2024 |work=[[NK News]]}}</ref> He also rejected the maritime [[Northern Limit Line]], saying that "If the Republic of Korea invades our ground territory, territorial air space, or territorial waters by even 0.001 mm, it will be considered a provocation of war". He called for the removal of physical symbols such as the [[Arch of Reunification]], which he called an "eyesore". The SPA also voted on the abolition of three inter-Korean cooperation organizations; the [[Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland]], the Korean People's Cooperation Administration, and the Kumgangsan International Tourism Administration.<ref name=":5" />

On March 1, 2024, the government of President [[Yoon Suk Yeol]] plans to develop a new vision of unification with North Korea to include the principle of liberal democracy. South Korea plans to update its vision of unification for the first time in 30 years. This is the first revision of the [[Unification Formula of the national community]], South Korea's unification policy unveiled in August 1994 under the administration of late President [[Kim Young-sam]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wonju |first=Yi |date=2024-03-01 |title=S. Korea to update unification vision for 1st time in 30 years |url=https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240301002500315 |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |language=en}}</ref>