Let's talk about North Korea's big changes.... - Belle of the Ranch

[TexasTowelie]

Well, howdy there internet people. It's Belle again. So, today we're going to talk about North Korea's big changes.

With everything else going on in the world, it would be easy to miss major developments. This is definitely one of those things. North Korea made major changes to their constitution that signal shifts on the international scene that are pretty big.

First, all references to national reunification are gone. There's no explicit statement of an attempt to bring North and South Korea together. That tracks with public statements from the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, for a couple of years now. He said the relationship between the countries should be that of hostile states.

The new constitution also adjusts the claimed borders of the country. Article two says North Korea is the land “bordering the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation to the north and the Republic of Korea to the south, including territorial waters and airspace established on that basis.” To be honest, just seeing high-level official documentation acknowledging the Republic of Korea is kind of a big deal.

Another big change is that the document is the “constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.” That's right, folks. North Korea is no longer socialist. Well, at least the word socialist no longer precedes the word constitution in the document.

Yet another shift is that the chairman of the state affairs commission, which of course is currently Kim Jong-un, is listed as the head of state. The title of supreme leader may be going away.

So what does all of this mean? This goes a little beyond normal image management and refinement. These are big changes, even if they're currently just on paper. It looks like North Korea is going to make some form of attempt to step out of isolation. All of these moves seem geared to present the country as more modern and less a relic of the Cold War. Of course, shortly after this, the country announced it was pointing new artillery at the South.

Obviously, the country has a long way to go to rehabilitate its image, and the way it deals with international relations and flexes its muscles is going to have to change. They can't fire rockets into the sea every time something doesn't go their way. And there would have to be a slow opening of various aspects of the country and we have no idea if they're actually going to follow through with it. But what the constitutional changes signal to the world is that they might be willing to try.

The other question is how the rest of the world will respond. For years and years, North Korea has been an erratic state that was isolated and cut off. It'll take a little bit of time, but if the signals are followed up by good faith attempts, we might see a dramatic shift occurring. This is definitely one of those stories that will fly under the radar and then everybody will be surprised when a North Korean leader is suddenly at a table with an EU or US representative. If that occurs later, the chain of events started now.

Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.