"As long as nuclear weapons remain on earth and imperialism remains and maneuvers of the United States and its followers against our republic are not terminated, our work to strengthen nuclear force will not cease," Kim said. North Korea has rebuffed those overtures, however, saying that the United States and its allies maintain "hostile policies" such as sanctions and military drills that undermine their messages of peace. President Joe Biden's administration has offered to talk to Kim any time, at any place, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has said his country would provide massive amounts of economic aid if Pyongyang began to give up its arsenal. The law also bans any sharing of nuclear arms or technology with other countries, KCNA reported.Ī deputy at the assembly said the law would serve as a powerful legal guarantee for consolidating North Korea's position as a nuclear weapons state and ensuring the "transparent, consistent and standard character" of its nuclear policy, KCNA reported. It also allows for preemptive nuclear strikes if an imminent attack by weapons of mass destruction or against the country's "strategic targets" is detected. North Korea has already declared itself a nuclear weapons state in its constitution, but the new law goes beyond that to outline when nuclear weapons can be used, including to respond to an attack, or stop an invasion. The US State Department “strongly recommends against all travel” to North Korea and specifically warns of the risk of arrest. – Rappler."The utmost significance of legislating nuclear weapons policy is to draw an irretrievable line so that there can be no bargaining over our nuclear weapons," Kim said in a speech to the assembly.
The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang provides limited consular services to US citizens detained there. The United States has no diplomatic or consular relations with the North. In the past, North Korea has used the detention of US citizens to obtain high-profile visits from the likes of former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton in order to secure their release. The United States took a leading role in securing the resulting sanctions that the UN Security Council imposed on the North in March. 2010 January 22, 2013: Resolution 2087 condemns North Korea’s 2012 satellite launch and. Observers said the long sentences handed down to Kim and Warmbier reflected soaring military tensions following the North’s nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch a month later. June 12, 2009: Resolution 1874 strengthens sanctions after North Korea’s second nuclear explosion. South Korea has denied any involvement in Kim’s case.įoreigners detained in North Korea are often required to make a public, usually officially scripted acknowledgement of wrongdoing as a first step towards a possible release. The Supreme Court prosecutor said Kim started spying in 2013 after South Korean agents tasked him with collecting party, state and military secrets. His detention first came to public attention when he was produced in January during an interview CNN was conducting with a detained Canadian pastor in a Pyongyang hotel.Īt that time, Kim said he had been living in China near the North Korean border for the past 15 years, commuting regularly to Rason – a North Korean special economic zone.Īccording to the North’s state media, he had been arrested in Rason as he was receiving a USB stick containing nuclear-linked and military secrets from his source. Kim was paraded in front of media cameras in the North Korean capital a month ago, when he admitted to stealing military secrets and pleaded for clemency in a carefully orchestrated “confession”.
The 62-year-old, who became a naturalized US citizen in 1987, was arrested on espionage charges back in October. The brief Xinhua despatch from Pyongyang said Kim’s penalty was handed down by North Korea’s Supreme Court. The announcement, which comes at a time of elevated military tensions on the Korean peninsula, followed an even harsher sentence of 15 years hard labor passed last month on a US student, Otto Warmbier, for stealing a propaganda banner from a tourist hotel in Pyongyang.
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