Inter-Korean relations

The inter-Korean relationship is being redefined rather than negotiated. North Korea has removed reunification from its constitution, defined its territory against a South it describes as a separate and hostile state, and publicly dismissed Seoul's diplomatic overtures. Seoul has moved in a parallel direction on paper -- its unification white paper now frames the goal as peaceful two-state coexistence -- while pursuing engagement in practice: restoring the 2018 military agreement and its no-fly zone, easing civilian access along the border, expressing regret over drone incursions into the North, and reading signals such as statements from Kim Yo-jong or a less hostile constitutional revision as possible openings. The result is an asymmetry in which one side maintains an engagement track that the other has formally closed. Both readings of that asymmetry -- that engagement can still reopen the track, and that Pyongyang has ended it structurally -- appear in the same South Korean and Western outlets, which is why they are distinguished here by their framing rather than by publisher.