The North Korean Navy and other branches of its military could soon be armed with nuclear weapons, Kim Jong Un claimed.
Kim said a “deterrence” was needed for what he perceives as threatening actions on the part of the United States and its regional allies, which have been conducting joint military naval exercises in the region, reported Fox News.
“Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the U.S. and other hostile forces, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been reduced into the world’s biggest war hardware concentration spot, the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war,” Kim said in a speech quoted by the Korean Central News Agency, per Fox News.
“The prevailing situation requires our navy to put all its efforts into rounding off the war readiness to maintain the constant combat alertness and get prepared to break the enemy’s will for war in contingency,” said Kim, per the Associated Press.
On Tuesday, the U.S. led training drills off South Korea’s southern waters that involved naval destroyers from South Korea and Japan.
The three nations discussed a trilateral security agreement at a summit earlier in the month. They agreed to hold regular joint drills aimed at confronting the perceived threats posed by North Korea, China, and Russia, as reported by The Dallas Express.
North Korea replied by test-firing its strategic cruise missiles as a demonstration of its own military might, according to the AP.
The new North Korean deterrence measures, Kim announced, would involve outfitting the country’s navy so that it could serve as “a component of the state nuclear deterrence,” which suggests the pariah state is seeking to equip its navy with nuclear-capable missiles, per the AP.
Kim made the speech while visiting the country’s naval headquarters with his daughter, 10-year-old Ju Ae. There is speculation that Kim is now introducing his daughter to the public to signal to the North Korean people that a hereditary transfer of power, like the one from Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, has already been arranged, per the AP.