North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has hinted that the country will strengthen its naval forces by deploying tactical nuclear weapons.

State-run Korean Central Television reported on Tuesday that Kim visited the navy command and delivered a speech on Sunday, ahead of Navy Day, which the country celebrated on Monday. Kim was reportedly accompanied by his daughter.

During his speech, Kim mentioned the trilateral summit that the leaders of Japan, the US and South Korea held in the United States earlier this month. The three leaders agreed to hold trilateral exercises regularly.

Kim said, "Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the US 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."

He also said that the navy will become a component of North Korea's nuclear deterrence. Kim indicated that "units of different services would be equipped with new weaponry according to the policy of expanding the tactical nuclear weapons operation specified in the line of building the state nuclear force."

Details of the plan have yet to be unveiled. But Pyongyang has a program aimed at developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or SLBMs.

North Korea also announced on August 21 that it had conducted a naval strategic cruise missile drill. The missile is designed to carry a tactical nuclear warhead.

The announcement came as the US and South Korean militaries were taking part in their regular joint exercises. During drills, the troops simulated responses to emergencies on the Korean Peninsula. The exercises are scheduled to end on Thursday.

Kim's speech was apparently aimed at raising morale within the military and keeping security cooperation among the US, South Korea and Japan in check.