North Korea has arrested three shipyard officials as it investigates the failed launch of a navy destroyer last week that badly embarrassed its leader, Kim Jong-un, state media reported on Sunday.
The chief engineer at the Chongjin shipyard on North Korea’s northeastern coast was arrested, as were the head of its hull-construction workshop and a deputy manager for administrative affairs, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Mr. Kim was watching as the shipyard tried to launch the newly built 5,000-ton destroyer on Wednesday, according to state media. Satellite images indicated that a large crowd had gathered for an elaborate ceremony to highlight Mr. Kim’s efforts to modernize North Korea’s navy.
But the ship lost its balance as engineers tried to push it sideways into the water. A satellite image taken after the accident showed the ship lying on its side, its stern in the water and its bow still stuck on the ramp. It was covered with blue tarpaulins, apparently to conceal it from spy satellites. (North Korea often carries out sensitive military construction under large canopies for that reason.)
Mr. Kim called the launch’s failure a “criminal act” and promised stern punishment, state media reported last week.
It was meant to be the North’s second launch of a destroyer in a month. The first, in April, at the Nampo port on the west coast, went smoothly; engineers set that ship afloat by letting water into a dry dock.
In a report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research institute in Washington, analysts said the Chongjin shipyard may have been ill-suited for launching a destroyer, the biggest class of warships the North has ever built. It has mostly produced cargo ships, fishing vessels and dredgers and “undoubtedly lacks significant expertise in manufacturing and launching large warships such as the new destroyer,” the report said.
Launching big ships sideways — a method that analysts say North Korea had never used for warships before — requires delicate balancing work, said Choi Il, a retired South Korean Navy captain. The heavy weapons mounted on the destroyer could have made the task even more difficult, he added.
South Korean analysts said that pressure from Mr. Kim to launch the destroyer, especially after the successful launch in Nampo, might have led the Chongjin engineers to cut corners.
South Korea, which has one of the world’s most advanced shipbuilding industries, no longer launches warships sideways, its defense officials said.
North Korea initially reported that the accident had torn holes into the ship’s hull. But it later retracted that assessment. Though some seawater flowed into the ship, a detailed inspection revealed that it had only sustained scratches, North Korea said on Friday.
Still, “the fact that the accident is an unpardonable criminal act remains unchanged, and those responsible for it can never evade their responsibility for the crime,” Mr. Kim’s Central Military Commission said. It said it was taking the accident seriously “to deal a telling blow” to lax attitudes “prevailing in any field.”
The commission estimated that a few days would be required to restore the ship’s balance by pumping out the seawater, which should cause the bow to leave the slipway. Fixing the damage on the ship’s side will take another 10 days or so, it said.
The North’s latest assessment of the damage could not be independently confirmed. The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ report had previously said that the destroyer would not be entering service any time soon and “may ultimately prove to be a complete loss.”
Historically, North Korea has tended to conceal accidents that could hurt the image of its leader. But Mr. Kim has often owned up to his government’s failures and punished officials for them.
Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea.
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