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By Micah McCartney
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A new North Korean map shows the peninsula split in two, further cementing Kim Jong Un's break from the long-held goal of unification.
Newsweek has reached out to the North Korean Embassy in China and the South Korean Embassy in the United States with emailed requests for comment.
Why It Matters
After the end of hostilities of the three-year Korean War, which began when the communist North invaded the South, Pyongyang continued for decades to tout eventual reunification—albeit on its own terms. A brief thaw in the late 2010s saw the neighbors reopen communication hotlines and take symbolic steps toward cooperation and military de-escalation.
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However, in recent years, tensions have resurfaced as North Korean leader Kim doubled down on his U.N.-sanctioned nuclear and missile programs. Since the end of 2023, the regime has amended its constitution to label the South a "hostile state," destroyed road and rail links, and dissolved organizations promoting unification.
What To Know
Last week, a netizen and self-described Korean learner uploaded an image to the social media app RedNote (Xiaohongshu), purportedly showing a map published in April 2024 by a North Korean map publisher, per News1. The map featured a jingoistic quote from Kim Jong Un in the top left corner.
Labeled "Joseon," the term North Korea typically uses for itself, the map displayed administrative districts only for the North and omitted them for the South—unlike older charts that have been made public.
Instead, South Korea was shown in gray like China, and labeled simply as "South Korea. This was a departure from the previously used term "Puppet Korea" that implied the South was not an independent country but a U.S. puppet state.
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What People Are Saying
Kim Jong Un, supreme leader of North Korea, said in an October speech: "In the previous period, we talked a lot about liberating the South and unifying the country by force, but now we are not interested in that at all, and since we declared two countries, we are not even conscious of that country."
What's Next?
North Korea's rhetoric on the South has been relatively muted since the political crisis that erupted in Seoul in December following now-jailed President Yoon Suk-yeol's brief declaration of martial law.
Last month, the North's rubber-stamp congress made no mention of the South, experts have noted, but Kim is unlikely to backtrack on his purge of unification symbols anytime soon.
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