North Korea on Tuesday commissioned its largest-ever warship, a 5,000-ton destroyer that military analysts say could give Pyongyang’s adversaries something more to think about in a time of crisis, CNN reported.
In a speech at Nampho Shipyard on the country’s west coast, leader Kim Jong Un said the introduction represented a new chapter in its military history, declaring that its navy has “put an end to over 70 years of its stagnation.”
“In terms of military hardware, the navy was the weakest of all the services of our armed forces,” Kim said, according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“Things have changed obviously now,” Kim said.
“The combat capability of our navy will grow to be admirable beyond imagination.”
The North Korean naval fleet has long been eclipsed by South Korean and United States naval forces, which field modern warships and submarines with sophisticated electronics and powerful missile launch capabilities.
The destroyer commissioned Tuesday, the Choe Hyon, is expected to have anti-ship and land-attack missile capabilities, although neither can be confirmed to date, analysts said.
The new ship is a step up from North Korea’s traditional naval set-up, which has relied heavily on “asymmetric coastal forces such as submarines, fast-attack craft, coastal artillery, mines, and special forces infiltration,” said Yu Ji-hoon, research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
“The North Korean navy is moving away from its existing coastal-defense-centered structure towards extending its nuclear and missile threat into the maritime domain,” Yu said.
In his speech, Kim said the Choe Hyon will be the first ship of a modern North Korean fleet, with even bigger vessels coming.
He alluded to difficulties along the way, saying the country’s naval buildup “is never plain sailing,” perhaps referring to the troubles of the Choe Hyon’s sister ship, the Kang Kon, which capsized during its launch in May 2025.
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