Kim Jong Un says nuclear weapons to be deployed to North Korea's navy

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country's navy would become “a component of the state nuclear deterrence,” state media said Tuesday, as the U.S., South Korea and Japan held a trilateral naval exercise to deal with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries have been separately holding summer bilateral exercises since last week. North Korea views such U.S.-involved training as an invasion rehearsal, though Washington and its partners maintain their drills are defensive.

Kim said in a speech marking the country’s Navy Day on Monday that the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been made unstable “with the danger of a nuclear war” because of U.S.-led hostilities, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim said that military units of each service would be given new weaponry in line with the government’s decision to expand the operation of tactical nuclear weapons. He said the navy

This suggests North Korea would deploy new nuclear-capable missiles to its navy and other military services.

He also called for his military to be constantly ready for combat to thwart its rivals’ plots to invade his country.