Kim unveils plans for 10,000-ton warships, nuclear navy

SEOUL, June 24:  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would equip its navy with nuclear weapons and build larger warships, state media reported Wednesday, as Pyongyang pushes ahead with its military expansion.

North Korea is under multiple sets of sanctions over its nuclear programme, and leaders have repeatedly insisted they will not abandon it, portraying nuclear weapons as essential to deterrence against the United States and South Korea.

Kim's remarks came at the commissioning of the Choe Hyon -- one of two 5,000-ton class warships the isolated country launched last year -- in the port city of Nampho on Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

"The programme of equipping the Navy with nuclear weapons is following its planned course unerringly," Kim reportedly told the ceremony.�"AFP