North Korea declared itself a nuclear power Thursday, claiming the status is “irreversible” while also banning denuclearization talks.
North Korea announced its nuclear status through a local state news agency on Friday, adding that the state has officially enshrined the right to use preemptive nuclear strikes for protection, Reuters reported. North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly passed the new legislation on Thursday, replacing a 2013 law on the troubled nation’s nuclear status, the outlet continued.
China To Send Troops To Russia For Joint Military Exercisehttps://t.co/
A094fdmfhj — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 17, 2022
North Korea also appears to be preparing nuclear tests for the first time since 2017, Reuters noted. “The utmost significance of legislating nuclear weapons policy is to draw an irretrievable line so that there can be no bargaining over our nuclear weapons,” the country’s leader Kim Jong Un said in a statement to his assembly. He further noted that the state will never surrender the nuclear weapons, even in the face of a 100 years of global sanctions, Reuters reported. (RELATED: North Korean Defector Has Blunt Words For The Left)
The decision to continue advancing their military capabilities is a breach of resolutions set forth by the United Nations Security Council, especially since they are meant to threaten neighbors and create weapons that could reach the mainland of the U.S., the BBC noted.
University of North Korean Studies Professor Yang Moo-jin suggested that the law demonstrates Pyongyang’s desire to grow closer ties to China and Russia amidst rising global tensions, CNN reported.