North Korea identifies itself as a nuclear power in its revised constitution, according to a copy displayed on the country's official web portal.| They can identify as anything they want... |
The Supreme People's Assembly named Kim Jong-il "eternal chairman" of the National Defense Commission while appointing his son
North Korea has claimed it is a nuclear power since its second nuclear test in May of 2009 and used the expression to identify itself in various announcements. The expression was used in a statement announcing Kim Jong-il's death on Dec. 19 last year and has appeared in the North's media on a daily basis since then.
More than 100 articles, editorials or statements referring to the country as a nuclear power have appeared in North KoreaÂ’s official Rodong Shinmun daily since Kim's death.
"The revision was the first change to the constitution since the second nuclear test in 2009 and Kim Jong-il's death late last year, and it must have been natural for the regime to use the expression 'nuclear power,'" said an intelligence official here. The inclusion of the phrase shows that Kim Jong-un wants to publicize the fact that North Korea has nuclear weapons and use them as a bargaining tool just as his father did, according to a source.