According to the Anadolu Agency, North Korea has reportedly changed its constitution to ensure an immediate nuclear response if leader Kim Jong Un is assassinated, a dramatic move believed to have been triggered by the recent US-Israeli strikes that wiped out much of Iran’s top leadership.
According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), the new policy was approved during a session of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly in March but only recently revealed to senior officials in Seoul.
The constitutional revision reportedly states that if North Korea’s nuclear command system comes under attack or the country’s leadership is incapacitated, nuclear weapons must be launched “automatically and immediately.”
The move highlights growing anxiety inside Pyongyang following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several senior military advisers during coordinated strikes by the United States and Israel earlier this year.
For North Korea, the attacks appear to have served as a chilling warning.
Professor Andrei Lankov said the events in Iran likely shook the North Korean leadership.
“This may have been policy before, but it has added emphasis now it has been enshrined in the constitution,” he explained.
“Iran was the wake-up call. North Korea saw the remarkable efficiency of the US-Israeli decapitation attacks, which immediately eliminated the greater part of the Iranian leadership, and they must now be terrified.”
Kim Jong Un is widely believed to be deeply concerned about his personal security. The North Korean leader is constantly surrounded by bodyguards and is known for avoiding air travel, instead relying on heavily armored trains for international trips.
Experts say carrying out an operation similar to the one in Iran would be far more difficult in North Korea because of its extreme secrecy, limited internet access, and tightly controlled surveillance systems.
Still, the constitutional change sends a clear message: Pyongyang wants its enemies to know that any attempt to eliminate Kim could trigger a nuclear response within moments.
Prof Lankov added: “I see no likelihood of an attack coming from South Korea so any retaliation would be aimed at the United States.”
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