A ceremony to welcome a new addition to North Korea’s naval fleet has ended in embarrassment following a major accident during the ship’s launch that the country’s dictator, Kim Jong-un, described as a “criminal act”.
Kim was present when the 5,000-tonne destroyer appeared to go off balance during its launch in the eastern port city of Chongjin on Wednesday. The tipping caused damage to sections of the hull, the state-run KCNA news agency said on Thursday.
“Kim Jong-un made [a] stern assessment, saying that it was a serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility … and could not be tolerated,” KCNA reported.
Kim ordered the ship restored before a key meeting of the ruling Workers’ party next month, KCNA added. The accident had “brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse”.
Blaming “inexperienced command and operational carelessness” during the launch, the news agency said the incident left “some sections of the warship’s bottom crushed”. Officials found responsible for the debacle would be “dealt with at the plenary meeting of the party central committee” in June, Kim said.
South Korea’s military said the vessel was lying on its side in the water.
In a report issued last week on preparations for the launch, US-based 38 North said it appeared the ship would be side-launched from the quay, a method not previously observed in North Korea. “The use of this launch method could be one of necessity, as the quay where the ship is being built does not have an incline,” the 38 North report said. Commercial satellite imagery of the shipyard the day before the launch showed the destroyer positioned on the quay with support vessels by its side.
The ship was the second 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel – the biggest in the North Korean fleet – to have been launched in recent weeks. State media ran images of Kim attending a ceremony at the earlier launch with his daughter Ju Ae, considered by many experts to be his likely successor.
North Korea claimed that vessel, named the Choe Hyon, was equipped with the “most powerful weapons” and that it would “enter into operation early next year”.
Some analysts said the ship could be equipped with short-range tactical nuclear missiles – although North Korea has not proven it has the ability to miniaturise its atomic bombs.
The South Korean military has said the Choe Hyon could have been developed with Russian help, possibly in exchange for Pyongyang deploying thousands of troops to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine. Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, pointed out that Chongjin is conveniently close to the Russian port of Vladivostok.
“It’s also likely that the projected timeline for the vessel – including when assembly would be completed and the ship launched – was shared with the Russian side,” Ahn said. “It appears the dock was hastily constructed, and multiple issues may have arisen during the shipbuilding process.”
While the usually secretive North has previously disclosed failed satellite launches and the destruction caused by natural disasters, some analysts said the regime had been surprisingly quick to report Wednesday’s incident.
“It shows again Kim Jong-un’s ruling style of cutting off negative rumours from spreading and controlling officials more forcefully by being open about it rather than hiding it,” said Cheong Seong-chang at the Sejong Institute in Seoul.
While much of Kim’s focus has been on missile development and forging closer ties with Russia, he inspected a project to build a nuclear-powered submarine in March and said “radically” boosting the navy was a key part of the North’s defences.
He called for the modernisation of the country’s surface and underwater naval forces, including the development of warships.
