North Korea asserts its nuclear power in the constitution

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has included the status of a nuclear power in his constitution, state media reported Thursday, demanding more advanced nuclear weapons to counter the threat posed by the United States.
Despite international sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, North Korea has carried out a significant number of missile tests this year, ignoring warnings from the United States, South Korea and its allies.

Diplomatic efforts to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal have failed, and the constitutional change came last year after Kim declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear-armed state.

North Korean leader Kim said at the meeting of the State People’s Assembly, “North Korea’s policy of building nuclear power has been perpetuated as a fundamental law of the state, which no one is allowed to violate.”
North Korea needs nuclear weapons to counter the existential threat to the United States and its allies, he said.
He said, ‘The United States has maximized its nuclear war threat to our Republic by resuming large-scale nuclear war joint exercises with a clearly aggressive nature and by permanently stationing its strategic nuclear assets near the Korean Peninsula.’
Kim called the recently increased security cooperation between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo the “worst real threat”. He added, ‘As a result, accelerating the modernization of nuclear weapons is very important for North Korea to hold a certain edge of strategic deterrence.’
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim also stressed the need to rapidly increase the production of nuclear weapons and diversify the means of nuclear attack.
However, neighboring Japan has said that North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is “totally unacceptable”.
“North Korea’s nuclear and missile development threatens the peace and security of our country and the international community,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday in response to North Korea’s constitutional changes.
He said, “We will cooperate with the United States, South Korea and the rest of the international community for the full implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and the complete denuclearization of North Korea.”
Experts say that with North Korea’s nuclear status being mentioned in the constitution, the possibility of convincing the North Korean leadership to give up its nuclear weapons is fading.
Yang Moon Jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP about Kim’s speech, “It is a symbol of the stability of his nuclear power