North Korea adds ‘nuclear force-building’ mission to its constitution

The North Korean government has added the policy of growing its nuclear capabilities into the national constitution. 

The 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, the unicameral legislative body of the country, made the constitutional change on Wednesday.

“The DPRK’s nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout with anything,” Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un said during the legislative session.

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He added, “This is a historic event that provided a powerful political lever for remarkably strengthening the national defense capabilities.”

The Supreme People”s Assembly is, on paper, the highest governing body in North and the government’s strongest political organ.

In actuality, the parliament has served as a mere formality — rubber-stamping the policies decided by the Kim family dynasty — for generations.

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The nuclear force-building amendment unanimously passed the Supreme People’s Assembly.

Kim Jong Un said at the assembly that the enshrinement of nuclear development into the national constitution was a response to trilateral cooperation from the US, Japan, and South Korea..

The supreme leader accused the U.S. of conducting “large-scale nuclear war joint drills with clear aggressive nature and putting the deployment of its strategic nuclear assets near the Korean peninsula on a permanent basis.”

 

North Korea is positioning itself as an eager ally of Russia, the People’s Republic of China, and others in the face of American influence in East Asia.

Russia and China have increased diplomatic efforts with the hermit kingdom in recent months, with Kim Jong Un making a rare foreign visit to Russia earlier this month.