North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the unveiling of a new destroyer on the country's western coast, April 25, 2025, in this image from the state-run Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA)
Extensive repairs are underway on a new North Korean destroyer after a “serious accident” damaged the warship during its ceremonial launch, state-run media reported Thursday.
As the 5,000-ton destroyer was being launched Wednesday, the flatcar carrying the warship failed to move, causing the stern to depart by itself and become stuck on the launch slide at the Chongjin Shipyard in North Korea’s eastern coast, the Korean Central News Agency reported the next day.
The destroyer’s hull was crushed and the vessel failed to leave the shipway, according to the report.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who oversaw the ceremony, described it as “a serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism,” KCNA said.
Kim reportedly demanded the “immediate restoration” of the destroyer and an investigation into the incident.
KCNA did not identify the destroyer by name or class and included no photographs in the report.
North Korea often embellishes its military and technological capabilities and rarely admits to mistakes, according to Koh Yu-hwan, emeritus professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University and the former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification.
The latest incident, however, was difficult to conceal from the public eye, Koh said by phone Thursday.
“In this case, [Kim] participated in the warship launching ceremony and many people would have seen the accident,” he said. “It was a big event with the military and civilians present. They would have agreed that they could not hide the accident and decided to make it public.”
Kim could have also publicized the failure to instill discipline throughout the ranks, Koh said.
The communist regime’s leader may have “wanted to imprint upon the officers and citizens that punishment may follow mistakes” in other industries, Koh said.
On April 25, Kim oversaw the launch of another 5,000-ton destroyer at the Nampho Dockyard in the country’s western coast. The Choe Hyon-class destroyer — named after a North Korean anti-Japanese revolutionary fighter — boasted new technology that modernized the North’s fleet, KCNA said at the time.
“The new generation multipurpose attack destroyer … serves as an important starting point on the road toward advanced maritime power,” the report said.
The second destroyer’s unveiling was tracked by U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies, which confirmed its ceremonial launch had failed, South Korean army Col. Lee Sung-jun, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Thursday in Seoul.
Lee said the damaged destroyer is similar in size and scale to the one unveiled last month and “is currently laying down in the sea.”
North Korea on Thursday fired several cruise missiles eastward from near Sondok village in South Hamgyong province, roughly 100 miles northeast of Pyongyang, the Joint Chiefs said in a text message to reporters that day.
“We are closely observing the North’s different moves and maintaining capabilities and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations,” the message said.
