Kim Jong Un’s new powers over North Korea’s nuclear arsenal as leader makes chilling ‘prepare for war’ threat

In concerning times where we're all already worried about the ominous threat of nuclear war, the last thing you probably wanted to hear is about how Kim Jong Un now has more authority.

Sadly, that is the truth over in North Korea, where the Supreme Leader has clearly bounced back from the rumours that he might be dead by bringing a new constitution into effect.

Amid growing tensions with South Korea, with whom the Asian country has shared a precarious ceasefire since 1953, it's perhaps no surprise that the constitution has been revised with four main differences.

After nearly three years of being offline, the document has now re-emerged, and it shows that any prospect of reunification with the South has been completely scrapped.

However, perhaps the most ominous updates show that Kim Jong Un will have access to new 'powers' including the the ability to veto parliamentary decisions and also remove lawmakers who lose 'the confidence of the people'.

Kim's powers have increased as part of the constitution changes (CCTV+/VCG via Getty Images)

The new constitution also increases his powers as chairman of the State Affairs Commission over nuclear forces, which naturally feels a bit concerning given the current state of the world, despite the horrific consequences in both of the times nuclear weapons have been used in history so far, in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"North Korea’s constitutional change reflects what we have known for the past three years, namely, that North Korea does not want anything to do with South Korea," Edward Howell, author of A New Axis of Upheaval: North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, told Newsweek.

While South Korea's president Lee Jae Myung has called for a 'peace regime', the move away from reunification emphasises the fact that North Korea doesn't want to deal with its neighbours in the south, and that is reinforced by Kim Jong Un who said that the North has 'absolutely no business dealing with South Korea'.

The Korean War is still ongoing but has had a ceasefire since 1953 (Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images)

"The constitutional change only confirms this sentiment," Howell added. "Pyongyang wants to send a clear signal to Seoul that North Korea does not care for the current South Korean government’s desires to reconcile ties."

North Korea is reported to have been testing its ballistic missiles in recent weeks and it only adds to the tension which came when tanks were spotted close to the border earlier this month, while Kim's sister threatened 'merciless elimination'.

In response, the Supreme Leader said: "The primary revolutionary task of the company leaders is to round off the combat preparations of their units for getting fully ready for fighting a war and the way for its implementation is to bring about a radical improvement in the strenuous and intensive training."

The dictator also declared that his ultimate end goal was to 'build the strongest army and accelerate the Korean-style military revolution by training the strongest companies', and perhaps these latest changes to the constitution only give him more power towards achieving that goal.