Photo : KCNA via YONHAP News
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected a navigation test for a newly built naval destroyer that tipped over during a launching ceremony last year.
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said Saturday that Kim boarded the five-thousand-ton Kang Kon destroyer two days earlier to observe an assessment of its maneuvering and operational capabilities.
Kim, who was accompanied by his daughter Ju-ae in photos released by the KCNA, expressed satisfaction over the vessel’s cruise and high-speed mobility systems.
The regime leader then said building a naval force that can reliably take charge of a key part of the nuclear war deterrent and strike enemies underwater or above water is “the most important task” under the ruling party’s five-year national defense development policy.
Kim expressed confidence that the construction of ten-thousand-ton-class destroyers and the development of “underwater secret weapons” as part of naval modernization efforts will go ahead as planned and ordered the Choe Hyon and Kang Kon destroyers to be commissioned “as soon as possible.”