Nuclear security

North Korea, on defense after sanctions, makes nuclear threat

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his country's nuclear weapons made ready for use at a moment's notice, the country's official state news agency reported Friday.

Kim also said his country will ready its military so it is prepared to carry out preemptive attacks, calling the current situation very precarious, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The threats in the statement are part of the authoritarian nation's regular propaganda effort to show strength in the face of what it sees as an effort by its enemies South Korea and the United States to overthrow its leaders; it follows harsh U.N. sanctions over the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and comes ahead of joint U.S.-South Korean war games this month that the North claims are invasion preparations.