The Constitution of North Korea — A Legal Document That Worships Two Dead Men.

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North Korea — Constitution Profile

📅 Active SinceDecember 27, 1972
🏛️ GovernmentUnitary One-Party Socialist Dictatorship
🌍 CapitalPyongyang
📄 Total Articles172 Articles in 7 Chapters
✏️ Total Amendments13 since 1992
👑 NicknamedThe Kim Il Sung – Kim Jong Il Constitution

The Only Constitution on Earth Officially Named After Two Dead Men

Most constitutions are named after the country they govern. North Korea's constitution is, by its own text, named after two specific human beings — and they have both been dead for years.

The DPRK Socialist Constitution is a Kim Il Sung constitution which legally embodies Comrade Kim Il Sung's Juche state construction ideology and achievements.

After Kim Il Sung's son took power, the document was renamed again. The Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — formerly known until March 2026 — was adopted on December 27, 1972, by the Supreme People's Assembly. The preamble states the constitution will be called the Kim Il Sung Constitution, codifying the Juche-oriented ideas and achievements of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung in State building.

A Preamble That Reads Like a Eulogy, Not a Law

Open almost any nation's constitution and you find legal definitions of government structure. Open North Korea's, and the first thing you encounter is something closer to religious scripture.

The great Comrade Kim Il Sung was the founder of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the father of socialist Korea... He regarded "believing in the people as in heaven" as his motto, was always with the people, devoted his whole life to them, took care of and guided them with a noble politics of benevolence, and turned the whole society into one big and united family.

The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung is the sun of the nation and the lodestar of the reunification of the fatherland.

This is not background commentary. This is the actual legally binding preamble of the supreme law of an entire nation — describing its founder in language usually reserved for religious worship, not government documents.

The Word That Makes North Korea's Constitution Unlike Any Other on Earth

Buried in Article 3 is the philosophical core that separates North Korea's legal system from every other socialist constitution ever written.

Article 3 explicitly declares: "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is guided in its activities by the Juche idea, a world outlook centered on people, a revolutionary ideology for achieving the independence of the masses."

The constitution is considered as unique for combining strong socialist and nationalist tendencies as well as referencing the country's Juche ideology. "Juche" was first incorporated into the DPRK's 1972 Constitution; it is generally understood to combine elements of nationalism, socialism, militarism, reverence for the leader, and the pursuit of national autonomy.

By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, North Korea had already replaced the ideology it borrowed with one built entirely around itself. Juche eventually replaced Marxism–Leninism entirely by the 1980s, and in 1992 references to the latter were omitted from the constitution.

The Party That Was Quietly Placed Above the State Itself

One single sentence in the constitution explains why elections, courts, and parliament in North Korea function so differently from anywhere else.

Article 4 implies that the Party is superior to the state, thereby providing the constitutional grounds for Party leadership over the country and its relations with other states.

This is the constitutional foundation that scholars point to when explaining why North Korea's elections look nothing like a competitive democracy. DPRK elections are therefore much less democratic than ROK elections. The DPRK Constitution does not rest on an ideal of popular democracy; instead, it rests on the ideal of democratic centralism.

A Power Structure Rewritten Every Time a Kim Dies

North Korea's constitution has been amended a remarkable number of times — and almost every major rewrite traces directly back to a transition of power within a single family.

The Socialist Constitution has been amended thirteen times — in 1992, 1998, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016, April 2019, August 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026.

Each major leadership change triggered its own legal rewrite. These provisions allowed Kim Jong Il to assume the positions of supreme commander of the Korean People's Army on 24 December 1991 and chairman of the National Defense Commission on 9 April 1993. The 2012 amendment was approved to introduce changes to North Korea's government system following the death of Kim Jong-il in 2011.

Though the exact structure of the executive changed, the principle of hereditary succession did not, and neither did the extraordinary power of the Supreme Leader.

The Word That Vanished From the Title in 2026

Even the very name of North Korea's constitution has not been immune from political revision.

The Socialist Constitution was renamed to the Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the 2026 amendment.

Removing the word "Socialist" from the title of a constitution that still claims to govern a socialist state is the kind of small but telling change that constitutional scholars watch closely — a single word, deleted from a sixty-year-old legal title, that may signal shifts in how the state chooses to define itself for the decades ahead.

Constitution at a Glance

DetailInformation
Previous Constitution1948
Current Constitution AdoptedDecember 27, 1972
Total Amendments13 (1992–2026)
Total Articles172
Total Chapters7
Guiding IdeologyJuche (self-reliance)
2026 Title Change"Socialist" removed from official name
Ruling PartyWorkers' Party of Korea
Leadership ModelHereditary — Kim family, 3 generations
Official LanguageKorean

📥 Read the Constitution of North Korea

Read the complete, official English translation of the Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea:

👉 Read Constitution of North Korea — Full Text

A constitution that opens like a eulogy. A party written above the state itself. A founding document amended thirteen times, almost always around the death or rise of a single family. Which part of North Korea's constitutional story surprised you the most? Tell us in the comments below.

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