North Korean leader says restoration of new vessel named Kang Kon has not delayed Pyongyang’s bid to boost naval power.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to build more warships and deploy them to the Pacific Ocean, as he officiated at the relaunching of a destroyer that partially sank during its inauguration last month, state media reports.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that Kim presided over the ceremony for the 5,000-tonne destroyer at the Rajin shipyard in the country’s far north. The ship has been named Kang Kon after a senior North Korean military official who was killed in action during the Korean War.
In a speech at the ceremony on Thursday, Kim was quoted as saying that repairs to the destroyer “had not delayed” North Korea’s attempts to enhance naval power.
“In two weeks’ time, the vessel was brought upright safely and set afloat, accomplishing its complete restoration today as planned,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
The North Korean leader also announced that plans were in place “to build two more 5,000-tonne destroyers next year”, as he called for his country to strengthen its maritime military presence in the Pacific Ocean in the face of what he said were provocations by the United States and its allies.
“Soon, enemies will experience, themselves, how provocative and unpleasant it is to sit and watch the ships of an adversary run rampant on the fringes of sovereign waters,” Kim said.
“I’m sure that in the near future, the routes of our battleships … will be opened on the Pacific Ocean toward the outposts of aggression,” he said.
Recent satellite images had shown ongoing repairs of the Kang Kon destroyer that had partially capsized in May during a botched inaugural launch that Kim described as a “criminal act”.
The newly launched Kang Kon is North Korea’s second known destroyer and is seen as a crucial asset in Kim’s goal of modernising his country’s naval forces.
The South Korean military estimates, based on its size and scale, that the new warship is similarly equipped to the 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel Choe Hyon, which North Korea built with Russian assistance and launched in May.
Kim has been pushing for the modernisation of his military and calling for an aggressive response to threats from the US and South Korea, who are key allies and regularly conduct military drills together.
On Wednesday, the White House said that US President Donald Trump would welcome communications with Kim after having had friendly relations with him during his first term in office.
But the South Korea-based NK News, which monitors North Korea, reported recently that Pyongyang’s delegation at the United Nations in New York had repeatedly refused to accept a letter from Trump to Kim.
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