Pyongyang, North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited his Navy headquarters with his daughter, state media reported on Tuesday (August 29). He called for boosting the navy, claiming that the country's waters brimmed with "the danger of a nuclear war". 

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He also slammed the trilateral cooperation between the "gang bosses" of the United States, South Korea and Japan, who are holding joint naval drills. 

They conducted exercises in international waters off South Korea's southern Jeju island. South Korea's military said the main purpose was to improve their ability to detect and track targets and share information in the event of provocation by Pyongyang.  

The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will play out through August 31 and will feature drills to deal with emergencies on the Korean Peninsula. But it always infuriates Pyongyang. 

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Kim visited naval command on Sunday and according to the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim said that the three allies had recently "closeted with each other", which was an apparent reference to this month's Camp David summit. 

The drills were scheduled despite the fears that North Korea may launch what it calls an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). 

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The report said that Kim also accused the US of being "more frantic than ever before" because it conducted joint naval exercises and deployed nuclear strategic assets in the waters around the Korean peninsula on a permanent basis. 

As quoted by KCAN, Kim said, "Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the US and other hostile forces, the waters of 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." 

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"To achieve the successes in rapidly developing the naval force has become a very urgent issue in view of the enemies' recent aggressive attempts," he added. 

"The prevailing situation requires our navy to put all its efforts into rounding off the war readiness to maintain the constant combat alertness," Kim said, further adding that the naval forces would become part of the "state nuclear deterrence carrying out the strategic duty". 

He was accompanied by his young daughter during the visit as photos carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed both of them together meeting officers in uniform. 

This year itself, North Korea has conducted a record number of weapon tests. Just last week, it carried out its second attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit, but it failed. Kim has called for ramped-up arms production, including tactical nuclear weapons and declared the nation an "irreversible" nuclear power. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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