North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un attended the communist regime’s launch ceremony of the second of its two new Choe Hyon-class destroyers at the Cheongjin shipyard in eastern port city of Chongjin on May 21. The side-launch went really, really poorly.
Jong Un looked on as his brand-new, 5,511-ton, 144-meter warship immediately capsized.
After laying on its side for weeks, North Korean state media now claims the ship was been righted. Nevertheless, the damage has been done — both literally and figuratively.
‘Criminal act caused by sheer callousness, irresponsibility, and unscientific empiricism.’
The Korean Central News Agency attributed the failure to “inexperienced command and operational carelessness in the course of the launch,” claiming that “the launch slide of the stern departed first and stranded as the [hydro-pneumatic catapult] failed to move in parallel, holes made at some sections of the warship’s bottom disrupted its balance, and the bow failed to leave the slipway, leading to a serious accident.”
Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector who helms the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told the Guardian, “It appears the dock was hastily constructed, and multiple issues may have arisen during the shipbuilding process.”
Jong Un rushed to the conclusion that the incident was a “criminal act caused by sheer callousness, irresponsibility, and unscientific empiricism, which should never occur and could not be tolerated.”
While the communist regime lost face over the accident, the individual it scapegoated — Ri Hyong Son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee — will likely lose a great deal more. Son was arrested and deemed “greatly responsible,” according to state media.
38 North, a project of the Stimson Center, a peace-oriented think tank, indicated that in the wake of the accident, there were desperate efforts in recent days to manually right the ship. Satellite imagery revealed that numerous barrage balloons were employed to keep the communist ship afloat while cables were fastened to the destroyer to stabilize its position.
Additional satellite images reportedly indicate damage to the sonar bow section, which will require significant repairs at a dry dock.
State media claimed Friday — and satellite imagery confirms — that the ship had been balanced and launched the previous day and can now stay afloat, moored at the pier.
The South Korean military reportedly indicated that the battered and bruised vessel may have been developed with the help of the Russians in exchange for the regime sending soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
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