North Korea should build 2 warships equivalent to the 5,000-ton Choe Hyon ship each year for the next 5 years, North Korean President Kim Jong Un said at the commissioning ceremony of a destroyer on June 24, according to the state news agency KCNA.
According to KCNA, Mr. Kim Jong Un attended a ceremony held at Nampho port in North Korea to commemorate the deployment of the new multi-purpose destroyer Choe Hyon. This ship has successfully completed military operational tests in the past 14 months.
According to the report, Kim Jong Un said that the country is expected to soon deploy another 5,000-ton destroyer named Kang Kon, along with 10,000-ton strategic warships. The Kang Kon was repaired last year after partially capsizing during a launching ceremony.
Mr. Kim Jong Un said that the navy is the weakest part of North Korea's military forces, but affirmed that the capacity of this force will from now on become "something extraordinary beyond imagination".
Building a modernized naval base has become an urgent and essential task," Kim Jong Un said. He said that officials from the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea discussed plans to build new naval bases at a meeting on June 23.
According to Kim Jong Un, the most important change for the North Korean navy will be a shift in position, role and scope of operation, but he did not elaborate. He said that the nuclearization process of the navy "is progressing on its own path", contributing to the country's nuclear deterrence capabilities.
