North Korea has issued an order to replace maps of the Korean Peninsula displayed in state agency offices nationwide with maps showing only the northern half of the peninsula, coinciding with the nation’s Foundation Day on Sept. 9. The state appears to be accelerating efforts to erase concepts of reunification and a single Korean nation in line with the leadership’s doctrine of “two hostile states.”
According to a Daily NK source in Pyongyang recently, the city’s party committee issued an order on Sept. 3 to replace the maps on the walls of every party department and distributed new maps accordingly.
The newly issued maps feature “Map of Choson” written in bold letters at the top, using North Korea’s term for Korea. A box on the left side displays a red slogan: “The powerful civilized nation we are building is a socialist cultural state where the socialist culture blossoms and flourishes in all its brilliance, a land where the people, endowed with lofty creative ability and a high level of cultural refinement, create and enjoy the most advanced civilization at the highest level — Kim Jong Un.”
All maps published by North Korean authorities include this slogan, with the primary goal of promoting the regime and stimulating patriotism and loyalty.
At the lower right is a legend explaining symbols for monuments idolizing the Kim family, including “statues of the great leaders Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il,” “major revolutionary battle sites,” and “major revolutionary history sites.”
The maps also display national capitals; provincial, city, and county seats; national borders and provincial boundaries; major roads; mountains and valleys; salt farms; ports and seaways; and other points of interest.
Most significantly, the new maps label South Korea as “Hanguk”—the South Korean term for Korea. South Korea appears filled in gray with no administrative districts or place names specified. The maps use South Korea’s formal name rather than “South Choson,” as the North has long called it, labeling it simply by name in the same font and text size used for China and Russia.
This treatment suggests North Korea now views South Korea as a separate, foreign entity rather than part of a single nation, reflecting the leadership’s “two hostile states” doctrine. North Korea has been working to erase concepts of shared national identity and reunification with the South since declaring that North and South were “two hostile states in a state of war” during a ruling party plenary session in late December 2023.
Since last year, North Korea has been publishing maps depicting only the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and ordering their display at major party agencies and cadre training schools. Ahead of this year’s Foundation Day, authorities have ordered the maps displayed at all state agency offices.
S. Korea is a “foreign country”
As authorities distribute the maps, they have ordered agencies to indoctrinate members to refer to South Korea as “Hanguk” rather than “South Choson” and to view South Korea as a foreign country, not the southern half of a single Korean nation.
“They ordered that all members clearly understand that only half of the Korean Peninsula is our land,” the source said.
The source reported that authorities ordered all existing wall maps depicting the entire Korean Peninsula be returned to higher authorities rather than disposed of locally. Consequently, maps of the entire Korean Peninsula marking South Korean place names have become increasingly rare in North Korea’s party and administrative agencies.
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