North Korea denies extreme injury of warship; full investigation below means on its failed launch

North Korea’s Leader Kim Jong Un speaks throughout a launching ceremony of a brand new naval destroyer at a western port in Nampo, North Korea, on April 25, 2025. File
| Photo Credit: AP

North Korea is in search of to arrest these chargeable for the failed launch of its second naval destroyer, because it denied the warship suffered main injury — a declare rapidly met with exterior skepticism.

An announcement from North Korea on its dealing with of the botched launch got here after chief Kim Jong Un expressed fury over an incident that he mentioned was attributable to prison negligence. The primary army committee mentioned on Friday (May 23, 2025) that these accountable can be held chargeable for an “unpardonable criminal act.”

Satellite imagery on the positioning confirmed a vessel mendacity on its facet and draped in blue covers, with components of it submerged. North Korea says it will take about 10 days to restore its injury, however exterior observers query that timeframe as a result of injury to the ship appeared a lot worse than what North Korea claims.

Experts doubt North Korea’s warship injury report

North Korea’s state information company KCNA mentioned on Friday (May 23, 2025) that the severity of the injury to the 5,000-tonne-class destroyer was “not serious” as it cancelled an earlier assessment that the bottom of the hull had been left with holes.

It said the hull on the starboard side was scratched and some seawater had flowed into the stern section. But it said it’ll take a total of 10 days to pump up the seawater, set the ship upright and fix the scratches.

It’s almost impossible to verify the assessment because of the extremely secretive nature of North Korea. It has a history of manipulating or covering up military-related setbacks, policy fiascoes, and other mishaps, though it has periodically acknowledged some in recent years.

Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defence Network in South Korea, said the North Korean warship likely suffered much worse damage, including the flooding of its engine room located in the stern section, and holes in the starboard side. He said North Korea could simply set the ship upright, paint and claim the ship has been launched, but that repairs could take more than a year, as the replacement of an engine requires cutting the hull.

According to the North Korean account, the destroyer was damaged when a transport cradle on the ship’s stern detached early during a launch ceremony at the northeastern port of Chongjin on Wednesday (May 21, 2025).

Moon Keun-sik, a navy expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University, said North Korean workers are probably not familiar with launching a 5,000-tonne-class warship, which is nearly three times heavier than its existing main navy ships.

Observers say North Korea tried to launch the destroyer sideways, a method it has never used for warships, although it has previously employed it with big cargo and passenger ships.

Compared with those non-military vessels, Mr. Illwoo said it would be more difficult to maintain a balance with the destroyer because it’s equipped with heavy weapons systems. He suspected North Korean scientists and workers likely did not factor that in.

The damaged ship is assessed as the same class as North Korea’s first destroyer, launched with great fanfare last month, with a floating dry dock at a western shipyard. It is North Korea’s biggest and most advanced warship to date, and leader Kim Jong Un called its construction “a breakthrough” in modernising North Korea’s naval forces to deal with what he calls U.S.-led safety threats.

Subsequently, a failure to launch the second destroyer was a humiliation for Mr. Kim. But by disclosing it to each internally and externally, the chief might be making an attempt to point out his resolve in modernising naval forces and increase self-discipline at residence. He ordered officers to totally examine the case and restore the warship earlier than a high-level ruling Workers’ Party assembly in late June.

North Korea mentioned on Friday (May 23, 2025) the nation’s Central Military Commission summoned Hong Kil Ho, supervisor of the Chongjin shipyard, because it begun its investigation of the failed launch.

“No matter how good the state of the warship is, 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,” the Commission mentioned, in response to state media.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor on the University of North Korea Studies in Seoul, mentioned North Korea seems to be utilizing the failed launch as an opportunity to strengthen the ruling occasion’s management over the science and technological sectors.

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary analysis fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, mentioned that North Korea’s dealing with of the broken warship might have long-term penalties for its defence science sector, particularly if army scientists face harsh punishment.

“If scientists are held severely accountable, I would say the future of North Korea’s defence science doesn’t look very bright, as it would be a sign that political responsibility is being prioritised over technical accountability,” Mr. Lee wrote on Facebook.