Aegukka

The national anthem of North Korea was known as Aegukka until 2024. It was composed in 1945 as a patriotic song celebrating independence from Japanese occupation and was adopted as the state anthem in 1947. In 2023, Kim Jong Un announced an end to attempts at reunifying with South Korea. The following year, the song’s second line, “The country of three thousand ri,” was replaced to remove its reference to a unified Korean nation. Ri is the length of a Korean mile (equivalent to 0.24 imperial miles) and a reference to the length of the Korean peninsula. The title was also changed to remove references to the South Korean patriotic song Aegukga. The text of the Constitution was altered to officially rename the anthem to the "National Anthem of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (조선민주주의공화국 국가). Performance of this anthem is prohibited in South Korea under the National Security Act.