North Korea has rewritten its constitution to require an automatic nuclear strike if Kim Jong Un is assassinated or loses command of the country’s armed forces — a move directly prompted by the killing of Iran’s supreme leader during US-Israeli strikes on Tehran, according to South Korea’s intelligence service.
The constitutional revision was adopted during the first session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly, which opened in Pyongyang on 22 March. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service briefed that the changes formalise a nuclear response protocol under revised Article 3 of North Korea’s nuclear policy law, stipulating that a retaliatory nuclear strike would be launched “automatically and immediately” if the country’s nuclear command-and-control system is threatened by hostile attack.
Analysts say the decision reflects acute alarm within the Kim regime following the speed and precision with which US and Israeli strikes reportedly eliminated Iran’s senior military and political leadership during the opening phase of the conflict. Professor Andrei Lankov, a North Korean studies expert at Kookmin University in Seoul, said Pyongyang would have studied those strikes closely and viewed them as a direct warning about its own vulnerability. The changes appear designed to guarantee a devastating nuclear response even if Kim himself is eliminated in the opening moments of a conflict.
Kim is known to be acutely preoccupied with his personal security. He is permanently surrounded by bodyguards, avoids air travel wherever possible, and instead moves between locations in a heavily armoured private train fitted with advanced security systems. Despite this, analysts note that the constitutional change reflects a recognition that no amount of physical protection is absolute — particularly in an era of increasingly sophisticated satellite surveillance technology, which Professor Lankov noted could potentially be used to track military movements or identify the locations of senior officials during a war.
Replicating the kind of intelligence operation reportedly used against Iran’s leadership would, however, face far greater obstacles in North Korea. The country’s extreme isolation, sealed borders, tightly controlled domestic intranet and severely limited CCTV infrastructure make the gathering of actionable intelligence considerably more difficult. The small number of foreign diplomats, aid workers and business representatives permitted inside the country are subject to constant surveillance and strict movement restrictions.
Professor Lankov added that if North Korea’s leadership concluded the regime faced destruction, military commanders with authority to launch nuclear weapons would almost certainly follow orders to retaliate — and that any such strike would most likely be directed at the United States rather than South Korea, which he said posed little realistic independent threat to the North.
The announcement came alongside separate reports that North Korea is preparing to deploy a new long-range artillery system near the South Korean border. State media reported that Kim visited a munitions factory this week to inspect production of a new 155mm self-propelled howitzer. The official Korean Central News Agency claimed the weapon has a range of more than 37 miles — sufficient to place central Seoul and large parts of Gyeonggi province, South Korea’s most densely populated region, within striking distance — with frontline deployment expected later this year.
