How about create an MenuItem and add the action then add to menu..
Sample:
//Submenu
subMenu = new JMenu("Paste");
menuOptions.add(SubMenu);
JMenuItem cut = new JMenuItem(new DefaultEditorKit.CutAction());
JMenuItem copy = new JMenuItem(new DefaultEditorKit.CopyAction());
JMenuItem paste = new JMenuItem(new DefaultEditorKit.PasteAction());
subMenu .add(cut);
paste.setText("Paste");
cut.setText("Cut");
copy.setText("Copy");
subMenu .add(copy);
subMenu .add(paste);
Also follow the Java convention for variable names