Description
This paper examines North Korea’s evolving nuclear posture through the prism of norm contestation, arguing that Pyongyang’s behaviour reflects not only strategic calculation but is also shaped by its normative engagement with global nuclear governance. North Korea has historically positioned itself as a critic of the unequal nuclear order: it pursued nuclear capabilities while publicly endorsing principles of non-use, non-proliferation, and global disarmament. Recent developments, however, suggest a significant shift, with a 2022 law declaring North Korea’s nuclear status ‘irreversible’, an updated nuclear doctrine permitting pre-emptive use, and the 2023 constitutional enshrinement of its nuclear weapons programme collectively marking a departure from earlier normative commitments. These legal and doctrinal changes are reinforced by official rhetoric—most notably Kim Jong Un’s statements—which reject denuclearisation as a viable negotiating premise and frame nuclear weapons as intrinsic to national sovereignty, dignity, and pride.
Rather than interpreting these shifts as mere norm violations, this paper argues that North Korea is actively redefining nuclear norms from the periphery. It challenges the view that North Korea’s earlier anti-nuclear rhetoric was simply strategic camouflage, contending instead that its nuclearism is a form of normative resistance rooted in identity, historical grievance, and critique of global nuclear inequity. The paper highlights how Pyongyang reinterprets and resists dominant norms, thereby contributing to norm evolution.
Understanding nuclear norm contestation as both a strategic and ideational process is essential for rethinking global nuclear governance. The paper concludes by exploring alternative frameworks for engagement—such as arms control, crisis management, and conflict prevention—that move beyond the narrow paradigm of denuclearisation.
