The announcement comes about a month after Kim oversaw the test of new suicide and reconnaissance drones featuring AI technology, adding to concerns over North Korea’s deepening military cooperation with Moscow.
The warship, named “Choe Hyon” after a deceased North Korean anti-Japanese fighter, is a 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel that took more than a year to build, according to Korean Central News Agency.
Given its size, experts believe the ship can carry both ship-to-surface and ship-to-air missiles, with specialist outlet NK News reporting it is “likely to be equipped with short-range tactical nuclear missiles”.
The North Korean navy can now serve as a “core service for national defence and a component of nuclear war deterrent”, Kim said, according to KCNA, adding that the ship will “enter into operation early next year”.
He also accused Washington of “conducting aggressive exercises that simulate nuclear strikes against” the North through its joint-military operations with the South.
At the launch ceremony, held at the Nampho Dockyard on the country’s west coast on Friday, the warship “received the honour of being first reviewed” by Kim, it added.
Images released by state media showed Kim, accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae, being enthusiastically welcomed by navy personnel in white uniforms in front of the new warship, with colourful confetti scattered across the ground.
Ju Ae, who is considered by many experts as Kim’s likely successor, was also photographed whispering to her father dressed in a formal black suit in front of the vessel.
Kim inspected a project in March to build a nuclear-powered submarine, asserting that “radically” boosting the navy was a key part of Pyongyang’s defensive strategy.
At the time, Kim called for the modernisation of the country’s surface and underwater naval forces, including the development of warships. (AfP)
