North Korean law now allows for its nuclear force to be expanded, after the policy was anchored into law by members of the Supreme People’s Assembly.
This is according to the state media on Thursday.
The amendment to North Korea’s constitution was unanimously approved.
The approval was to “ensure the country’s right to existence and development, deter war and protect regional and global peace by rapidly developing nuclear weapons to a higher level.’’
The state-controlled KCNA news agency quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as saying.
Kim said that North Korea’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,’’ KCNA reported.
Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons has made it the subject of a wide scope of international sanctions.
UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles of any range, some of which are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Tests of cruise missiles were not subject to sanctions against Pyongyang.
Such weapons, however, can also be used to deliver nuclear warheads.
dpa/NAN
