North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said a newly commissioned destroyer would form part of a nuclear response system capable of delivering “annihilating retaliatory strikes”, state media KCNA reported on Monday, although it did not say whether the vessel itself would carry nuclear weapons.
North Korea has accelerated efforts to modernise its navy as Kim pursues a broader expansion of the country’s nuclear-capable forces. At a commissioning ceremony in the port city of Wonsan on Sunday, Kim said deploying the new vessel to the sea east of the Korean Peninsula would send a clear signal to North Korea’s adversaries.
“The time has come for us to exercise our sovereignty at sea and underwater,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
Kim’s daughter, known as Ju Ae, played a prominent role in the ceremony. KCNA photographs showed her wearing a white dress suit and standing beside her father to receive salutes, appearing on a giant screen above the cheering crowd and boarding the destroyer.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service believes North Korea is continuing steps to position Ju Ae as Kim’s successor, a South Korean lawmaker said last week. Her prominent appearance at the ceremony comes as Pyongyang continues to display the development of its military capabilities.
The 5,000-ton-class Kang Kon is the second warship of its class to enter service, following the commissioning of the Choe Hyon destroyer on North Korea’s west coast about three months earlier, KCNA cited Kim as saying.
Kim said North Korea’s naval nuclear armaments were advancing and that the country would continue expanding what he described as its most powerful strategic assets in key waters to protect its maritime sovereignty and regional security. He added that the Kang Kon would form part of North Korea’s state nuclear response system.
“Kim’s remarks are a public declaration that the destroyers will be used as platforms for sea-based nuclear deterrence,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
“The Kang Kon’s deployment to the sea to the east of the peninsula is intended to deter U.S., South Korean and Japanese naval operations near the peninsula,” Lim said.
The announcement came as South Korea, the United States and Japan began their annual “Freedom Edge” exercise on Monday in international waters southeast and south of Jeju Island, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The drill, running until Friday, involves major maritime and air assets from the three countries and is intended to strengthen deterrence and response capabilities against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
KCNA did not specify what weapons systems might be deployed on the Kang Kon, but said it carried the same systems as the Choe Hyon. A previous KCNA report said Choe Hyon-class destroyers could carry a range of weapons, including missiles that analysts say are capable of carrying a nuclear payload.
Kim also said North Korea would demonstrate another stage of its naval build-up in eight months, KCNA reported, without providing details. Lim said the timetable could point to the disclosure of another major strategic asset rather than simply another surface warship.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Seoul would closely monitor developments and noted that the nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy had been discussed since the Ninth Party Congress in February.
Kim also said construction of naval bases on North Korea’s east coast was under way. The country would create new naval units and build different classes of warships, he added.
