North Korea changes constitution and declares itself a nuclear state

North Korea has made nuclear weapons status part of its constitution, state media reported on Thursday (Sep 28) quoting Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. At a meeting of the State People's Assembly that was held Tuesday and Wednesday, Kim said that North Korea's nuclear force-building policy hasbeen made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout.

"This is a historic event that provided a powerful political lever for remarkably strengthening the national defence capabilities," he added. The supreme leader urged officials to "further promote solidarity with the nations standing against the US and the West's strategy for hegemony," denouncing trilateral cooperation between the US, South Korea, and Japan as the "Asian-version NATO."

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"This is just the worst actual threat, not threatening rhetoric or an imaginary entity," he said.

A record number of weapons tests this year

This year, North Korea carried out a record number of weapons tests, and now Kim has pledged to accelerate production of nuclear weapons to deter what he called US "provocations." According to a report by the news agency AFP on Thursday, Pyongyang might conduct its first nuclear test since 2017. It has conducted six in all since 2006.

Last week, Kim came back from Russia during which he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to boost military cooperation. Officials from the US and South Korea expressed concerns that Pyongyang could be seeking technological help for its nuclear and missile programmes while Moscow tries to acquire ammunition from the North to supplement its dwindling stocks for its offensive in Ukraine.

At UNGA, Pyongyang's dig at Seoul, Washington

On Tuesday, North Korea's United Nations (UN) envoy Kim Song addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) where he blamed the United States and South Korea for creating the situation in which Pyongyang "is urgently required to further accelerate the build-up of self-defence capabilities."

“The Reckless Act of the US and its foreign forces are exerting irreversibly destructive impact on the regional, political, military situation and security structure as they drive the situation of the Korean Peninsula into actual armed conflict. Given the prevailing circumstances, the DPRK is urgently required to further accelerate the build-up of self-defence capabilities to defend itself impregnably," Song said.

“Owing to the reckless and continued hysteria of nuclear showdown on the part of the United States and its foreign forces, The year 2023 has been recorded as an extremely dangerous year, that the military security situation in and around the Korean Peninsula was a threat even closer to the brink of a nuclear war,” he added.

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