North Korea amends constitution on nuclear policy, cites US ‘provocations’

North Korea has adopted a constitutional amendment to enshrine its policy on nuclear force, state media reported on Thursday, as the country’s leader
pledged to accelerate production of nuclear weapons to deter what he called U.S. “provocations.”
The North’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, unanimously adopted “the crucial agenda item for formulating the DPRK’s policy on the nuclear force as the basic law of the state,” KCNA said. DPRK is the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Addressing the parliament, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said it was important to “accelerate the modernization of nuclear weapons in order to hold the definite edge of strategic deterrence,” KCNA reported.
The amendment comes a year after North Korea officially enshrined in law the right to use preemptive nuclear strikes to protect itself.