It’s been over nine months since Kim Jong Un made the sudden announcement that North Korea would no longer seek unification with the South, and while much has changed as a result of the policy shift, much also remains the same.

On the one hand, the DPRK has made a concerted effort to purge references to unification and ethnic ties with the South, in line with Kim’s speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly on Jan. 15.

On the other hand, vestiges of Pyongyang’s decades-old policy of seeking a unified Korean Peninsula can