North Korea enshrines nuclear power status in constitution

North Korea enshrines nuclear power status in constitution
By Claire Lee and Qasim Nauman
Seoul (AFP) Sept 28, 2023

North Korea has enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution, with leader Kim Jong Un calling for more modern atomic weapons to counter the threat from the United States, state media reported Thursday.

Despite international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme, North Korea has conducted a record number of missile tests this year, ignoring warnings from the United States, South Korea and their allies.

Diplomatic efforts to convince Pyongyang to give up its atomic arsenal failed, and the constitutional change came after Kim's declaration last year that North Korea was an "irreversible" nuclear weapons state.

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", Kim said at a meeting of the State People's Assembly, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The rubber-stamp parliament met on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kim said North Korea needed nuclear weapons to counter an existential threat from the United States and its allies.

The United States has "maximized its nuclear war threats to our Republic by resuming the large-scale nuclear war joint drills with clear aggressive nature and putting the deployment of its strategic nuclear assets near the Korean peninsula on a permanent basis", he said.

- 'Absolutely unacceptable' -

Kim described the recently enhanced security cooperation between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo as the "worst actual threat".

As a result, he added, "it is very important for the DPRK to accelerate the modernization of nuclear weapons in order to hold the definite edge of strategic deterrence".

Kim also "stressed the need to push ahead with the work for exponentially boosting the production of nuclear weapons and diversifying the nuclear strike means", according to KCNA.

Neighbouring Japan, however, said North Korea's atomic weapons programme was "absolutely unacceptable".

"North Korea's nuclear and missile development threatens the peace and security of our country and the international community," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday in response to the constitutional change.

And South Korea said its special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs spoke to his US and Japanese counterparts, and that the three "strongly condemned" the constitutional amendment.

They agreed to work towards creating "an environment where North Korea has no choice but to denuclearise", the foreign ministry in Seoul said in a statement.

With the nuclear status enshrined in the constitution, however, prospects of convincing North Korea to give up atomic weapons have dimmed, experts said.

"Kim's speech... signifies the permanence of his nuclear force," Yang Moon-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.

"This pushes the prospect of North Korea's denuclearisation even further away."

- Space, missile programmes -

North Korea's weapons tests this year included intercontinental ballistic missiles, and its military this month conducted what it described as simulations of a "tactical nuclear attack".

Pyongyang has also tried and failed twice this year to put a military spy satellite in orbit.

South Korea and the United States have ramped up their security cooperation in response, with large-scale joint drills and trilateral naval exercises with Japan.

The last known North Korean weapons test, involving two short-range ballistic missiles, took place while Kim was on his way to meet President Vladimir Putin in Russia.

Kim's visit to Russia -- his first abroad since the coronavirus pandemic -- fanned Western fears that Moscow and Pyongyang will defy sanctions and strike an arms deal.

Russia is believed to be interested in buying North Korean ammunition for its war in Ukraine, while Pyongyang wants Russian help with its missile and space programmes.

Kim's Russia visit "and the potential strengthening of military cooperation (with Moscow) indicate an increased dedication towards branding itself into a formidable nuclear power", said Yang at the University of North Korean Studies.

Cruise missiles to nukes: North Korea's arsenal
Seoul (AFP) Sept 28, 2023 - North Korea has enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution, with leader Kim Jong Un calling for bigger, more modern atomic weapons.

The move follows Kim's declaration last year that North Korea is an "irreversible" nuclear power.

Here is a look at North Korea's arsenal:

- Cruise missiles -

Cruise missiles tend to be jet-propelled and fly at a lower altitude than more sophisticated ballistic missiles, making them harder to detect and intercept.

North Korea has an array of short, medium and long-range cruise missiles.

Unlike their ballistic counterparts, cruise missiles are not banned from testing under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

In March, two cruise missiles launched from a submarine flew 1,500 kilometres (930 miles), Pyongyang said, putting South Korea and much of Japan within range.

- Intermediate-range ballistic missiles -

Intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), which are rocket-propelled in the first stage of flight, have a range of about 3,000-5,500 km.

North Korea's main IRBM, the Hwasong-12, is capable of hitting the US territory of Guam.

Pyongyang first successfully tested the Hwasong-12 in May 2017 and has since fired three variants of the missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea is banned from testing all ballistic missiles under current UN Security Council sanctions.

- Intercontinental ballistic missiles -

Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) have a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres and are primarily designed to deliver nuclear warheads.

North Korea first claimed to have successfully tested the Hwasong-15 -- a missile capable of reaching Alaska -- on July 4, 2017 -- as a gift for the "American bastards" on US Independence Day.

Three years later, an even bigger and more powerful Hwasong-17 was showcased at a massive military parade.

North Korea fired this "monster missile" in November 2022. Analysts believe that is the first successful full flight test of the Hwasong-17.

This year, Kim oversaw the successful test of North Korea's newest ICBM, the solid-fuel Hwasong-18.

But all of North Korea's ICBMs have been test-fired on a lofted trajectory -- up not out, to avoid flying over Japan -- raising questions about their performance, including surviving reentry into the atmosphere and accuracy over greater ranges.

- Submarine-launched ballistic missile -

A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) can be launched from under the ocean making them extremely mobile and harder to detect.

Proven SLBM capability would take North Korea's arsenal to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a second-strike capability in the event of an attack.

North Korea's operational SLBM is called the Pukguksong-3, with an estimated range of 1,900 km. In October 2021, it announced a successful test of a new version of the missile.

Pyongyang's exact sea-based launch capabilities remain unclear.

Previous tests were carried out from older vessels, including from a submerged platform, rather than an actual submarine.

North Korea said it fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine in March 2023, but analysts said it appeared they had been launched from above water level, thereby removing the stealth benefit of the weapon.

North Korea has also conducted what it called simulations with its "first tactical nuclear attack submarine".

- Hypersonic missiles -

Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds of at least Mach 5 -- five times the speed of sound -- and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.

Depending on their design, analysts say these missiles can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.

After three tests -- one in September 2021, and two in 2022 -- North Korea said it had completed the final verification of its first hypersonic missile.

- Nuclear warheads -

North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, and carried out its sixth and most powerful one in September 2017.

Estimates of that device's explosive power, or yield, ranged from 100 to 370 kilotons, far exceeding the 15 kilotons of the US bomb that devastated Hiroshima in 1945.

A report published this year by the US Congressional Research Service cited external estimates of North Korea possessing enough material for "20 to 60 warheads".

North Korea is also pursuing the development of smaller warheads to fit a variety of delivery systems, it said.

In March this year, Kim called for expanded production of "weapon-grade nuclear materials" as North Korea unveiled what appeared to be a new, smaller tactical nuclear warhead.