North Korea’s newest destroyer sustained damage and became stuck during its May 21 launch ceremony, attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korean authorities have detained three shipyard officials in connection with the botched launch of its newest warship, according to a state media report.
This new warship, North Korea’s second-ever destroyer, was due to launch from the Chongjin shipyard on May 21, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.
The publication reported that the stern of the ship slid out, but the bow became stuck during the launch, causing the ship to become unbalanced. The incident reportedly left holes along some sections of the bottom of the ship.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was in attendance at the launch ceremony and rebuked the military officials, engineers, and shipbuilders responsible for the ship and its launch, saying the mishap was a criminal act.
The Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea subsequently ordered an investigation into the incident. This investigative team reportedly submitted its findings on Saturday, after which North Korean law enforcement officers detained Kang Jong Chol, chief engineer of the shipyard; Han Kyong Hak, who led the hull construction workshop, and Kim Yong Hak, who handled administrative matters related to the launch.
In addition to reporting the arrest of these three officials, the Korean Central News Agency reported that there has been no additional damage to the new warship, and repair teams were pushing ahead to fix it.
Weighing in at about 5,000 tonnes, the damaged warship was the second of its class for North Korea.
The first ship launched with more success last month. This destroyer represents the largest and most advanced warship in the North Korean fleet, and Kim described its development as “a breakthrough” in modernizing North Korea’s naval forces.
North Korea remains a heavily insulated society, and admissions of failures are uncommon.
Joseph Dempsey, a military analyst for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, suggested North Korean officials likely decided to be upfront about the failure in this case because they’d have little chance of concealing the incident for long.
“North Korea’s admission of failure is rare but would have likely been undeniable once satellite imagery reveals the extent of the ’serious accident,’” Dempsey wrote in a May 22 post on social media platform X.
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies assessed this week’s launch failure will set back Kim’s aspirations to transform the North Korean navy from a limited coastal defense force to one capable of projecting power and conducting strategic offensive operations further out at sea.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.