Kim Jong Un calls for strengthening North Korea's naval forces

(Patria) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for strengthening the country's naval forces, accusing the United States of turning waters near the Korean Peninsula into the "most unstable waters with a danger of nuclear war," KCNA reported on Tuesday.

In a speech on Navy Day, Kim said the "gang bosses" of the United States, Japan, and South Korea have announced regular joint military exercises, KCNA reported, apparently referring to their August 18 summit at Camp David in Maryland, Reuters reports.

At the meeting between the leaders of the US, South Korea, and Japan, the parties agreed to deepen military and economic cooperation as they seek to project unity in the face of China's growing power and North Korea's nuclear threats.

"Due to the reckless confrontational moves of the US and other hostile forces, the waters near the Korean Peninsula have been reduced to the world's largest concentration of war hardware, the most unstable waters with a danger of nuclear war," Kim said.

South Korea and the United States last week began their summer "Ulchi Freedom Shield" exercises, designed to improve their joint responses to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. Pyongyang has long condemned the exercises as a rehearsal for war.

Kim said North Korea demands its navy maintain combat readiness, "constant combat readiness," and called for a "radical" modernization of weapons and equipment.

"He emphasized that the KPA Navy will become a component of the state nuclear deterrence that will perform a strategic duty," the state agency KCNA reported.