North Korea passes law enshrining right to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes

North Korea has passed a law that officially declares the country a nuclear weapons state and enshrines the right to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes to protect itself, state media reported.

Leader Kim Jong Un said the law makes its nuclear status “irreversible” and bars any denuclearisation talks, state media said on Friday.

The move comes as observers say North Korea appears to be preparing to resume nuclear testing for the first time since 2017, after historic summits with then-US president Donald Trump and other world leaders in 2018 failed to persuade Mr Kim to abandon his weapons development.

The North’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, passed the legislation on Thursday as a replacement to a 2013 law that first outlined the country’s nuclear status, according to state news agency KCNA.

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“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,” Mr Kim said in a speech to the assembly, adding that he would never surrender the weapons even if the country faced 100 years of sanctions.

A deputy at the assembly said the law would serve as a powerful legal guarantee for consolidating North Korea’s position as a nuclear weapons state and ensuring the “transparent, consistent and standard character” of its nuclear policy, KCNA reported.

“Actually spelling out the conditions for use are especially rare, and it may simply be a product of North Korea’s position, how much it values nuclear weapons, and how essential it sees them for its survival,” said Rob York, director for regional affairs at the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum.

The original 2013 law stipulated that North Korea could use nuclear weapons to repel invasion or attack from a hostile nuclear state and make retaliatory strikes.

The new law goes beyond that to allow for pre-emptive nuclear strikes if an imminent attack by weapons of mass destruction or against the country’s “strategic targets”, including its leadership, is detected. — Reuters