(VOVWORLD) - Pyongyang’s state news agency KCNA reported on Friday that North Korea has passed a law allowing it to carry out a preventive nuclear strike “automatically” and “immediately to destroy hostile forces” when a foreign country poses an imminent threat to Pyongyang.
The move is expected to put the region at risk of tension as the US, Japan, and South Korea have recently pledged to respond firmly if the North tests nuclear weapons again.
Speaking at a meeting with North Korea Supreme People's Assembly on Thursday after it adopted the law allowing pre-emptive nuclear strikes for self-defence, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the most important implication of the nuclear weapons policy legislation is to draw an irreversible, non-negotiable boundary on the country's nuclear power.
The approval is said to target recent moves by the US, Japan and South Korea, especially the tough policies towards North Korea from new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. One of the policies is the formation of a strategic command to oversee a possible preemptive strike against the North and increase the number of ballistic missiles, F-35A stealth fighters, and new submarines.