North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the construction of two new 5,000-tonne warships every year over the next five years, signalling one of the country’s most ambitious naval expansion plans to date.
Kim made the announcement during a commissioning ceremony for the newly deployed destroyer Choe Hyon at Nampho port, according to state media KCNA. The vessel completed 14 months of operational testing before entering service.
The Choe Hyon is among North Korea’s largest and most advanced surface combatants, part of a broader effort by Pyongyang to modernise what Kim has previously described as the weakest branch of its military.
North Korea has traditionally relied on a largely ageing coastal fleet of submarines and smaller patrol vessels, with analysts long viewing its navy as limited in blue-water capability.
Reports from earlier in June say that Pyongyang also plans to build a 10,000-tonne destroyer, the largest warship ever publicly acknowledged by North Korea, as part of a wider naval overhaul.
In April, North Korea tested strategic cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles from the Choe Hyon, part of operational trials that analysts said demonstrated an effort to integrate nuclear-capable strike systems into its naval fleet.
Kim said on Tuesday (23 June) that the navy’s “nuclearisation” was advancing and would strengthen the country’s deterrence posture.
Military analysts in South Korea and the United States have said the expansion could increase North Korea’s ability to project force beyond the Korean Peninsula, even as questions remain over the reliability and combat readiness of its new warships.
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Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 22nd of August, covering the latest developments.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Monday that his party will introduce a bill to ban children under 16 from using social media. The proposal would allow fines of up to 10 per cent of a platform’s global revenue for non-compliance.
Russia reported a major fire at an Ozon logistics hub in Krasnodar after a drone attack on Monday, while Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied Kyiv’s official involvement in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline blasts.
Icelanders will vote on Saturday, 29 August, on whether to begin negotiations with the European Union, in a referendum that could reopen the country’s long-debated membership question.
At least 30 people have been killed after a massive landfill collapsed onto homes in Guinea's capital, Conakry, following heavy overnight rainfall that triggered a deadly landslide of waste in one of the city's densely populated districts.
Canada has rejected a proposed trade agreement with the United States after negotiations broke down over what Ottawa described as a series of last-minute demands that would have disproportionately favoured Washington and undermined Canadian economic interests.
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