North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a ceremony on Friday for the launch of a 5,000-tonne multipurpose destroyer at the military shipbuilding dockyard in Nampo, according to Reuters.
Jo Chun Ryong, a secretary in the ruling Workers’ Party, stated that the warship was equipped with the "most powerful weapons" and constructed "within 400-odd days perfectly with our own strength and technology."
Kim Jong Un, in a speech reported by KCNA, said the warship would be handed over to the navy and enter service in early 2026. He also stated, "If the U.S. continues to renew its record in the protests of military power, we will have no choice but to renew it in the exercise of strategic deterrence."
Additionally, he noted, "The security environment of our country is very serious right now," emphasizing plans to build a fleet for open-sea operations.
KCNA, citing Vice-Admiral Pak Kwang Sop, reported that the launch marked a new era of the "great Kim Jong Un-style fleet building."
The warship, named the "Choe Hyon-class" after anti-Japanese revolutionary fighter Choe Hyon, can accommodate dozens of vertical launch cells for missiles, as reported by Reuters earlier this month based on satellite image analysis. Kim Jong Un also remarked that strong pre-emptive attack capabilities were the most "convincing war deterrent" with no limit to their scope, and thanked workers for building the destroyer in line with the party’s naval strengthening policy.
The U.S. conducted a joint military drill with South Korea earlier this month, involving a B-1B strategic bomber and fighter jets, according to Seoul’s defense ministry. North Korea condemns such drills as war rehearsals, while Seoul maintains they are defensive.