New North Korea Law Makes Nuclear Policy ‘Irreversible’

Facts

• North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly passed on Thurs. a law allowing it to carry out a preventive nuclear strike if another country poses an imminent threat to Pyongyang and declaring its status as a nuclear-armed state “irreversible.”
• This newly-enacted law also bans the sharing of nuclear technology with other countries.
• It replaces a 2013 law that first outlined the country’s nuclear status and allowed the use of nuclear weapons to only repel invasion or attack from a nuclear-armed state.
• This announcement comes as tensions are high between the North and South, with Pyongyang conducting a record number of weapons tests this year and blaming Seoul for the outbreak of COVID in its territory.
• In his speech, N.Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un criticized the South over its plans to expand its conventional strike capabilities and revive large-scale joint military drills with the U.S., describing them as a “dangerous” military action that raises tensions.
• Though tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have relatively calmed, talks between the two countries have stalled since 2019.

Sources: Al Jazeera, CNN, Reuters, Daily Mail, and BBC News.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Washington Post. North Korea’s actions pose a severe threat to the stability of the Korean Peninsula and the security of the rest of the world. The U.S. has so far failed to negotiate an end to nuclear weapons in exchange for humanitarian assistance — it’s time for some new ideas about how to resolve this threat.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Anti-War. Though Kim may seem like a madman, he's simply using the only leverage he has in dealing with South Korea and the US. His nuclear ambitions are designed to seek political gains and sanctions relief after successive American administrations derailed diplomatic routes to denuclearization.

Predictions