Kim Jong Un declares North Korea a nuclear weapons state as he will 'never give them up'

dailystar.co.uk:

North Korea is a nuclear weapons state.The North Korean leader vowed that the country would “never give up” its nuclear weapons, the hermit state's media reported Friday (September 9).Nuclear weapons represent the “dignity, body, and absolute power of the state,” Kim said.READ MORE: Russia will be like 'North Korea on steroids' when Putin is replaced - Kremlin adviser“The adoption of laws and regulations related to the national nuclear force policy is a remarkable event as it’s our declaration that we legally acquired war deterrence as a means of national defence.“As long as nuclear weapons exist on Earth, and imperialism and the anti-North Korean manoeuvres of the US and its followers remain, our road to strengthening our nuclear force will never end.”His actions mark a shift from previous legislation that stated would keep its weapons only until other countries denuclearized.The older laws also said that North Korea would not use nuclear weapons preemptively against non-nuclear states.But now, Kim has enshrined the right for his country to use preemptive nuclear strikes to protect itself.The new law also bans the sharing of nuclear technology with other countries, CNN reported.Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the stance demonstrated Pyongyang’s schemes of strengthening ties with China and Russia at a time of high international tension. “North Korea mentioning the possibility of using nuclear weapons if and when an attack on the state and leader is imminent is significant, even though it states nuclear weapons as a defensive last resort,” Yang said.North Korea has up to 60 nuclear weapons and a 5,000-tonne stockpile of chemical weapons, according to the US Army.The.