soul —
North Korea on Tuesday commissioned its largest warship ever, a 5,000-ton destroyer, which military analysts say could give North Korea’s adversaries more room to think in a crisis.
In a speech at the Nampo Shipyard on the country’s west coast, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the introduction marked a new chapter in military history, declaring that the navy had “ended more than 70 years of stagnation.”
“In terms of military equipment, the navy was the weakest of our armed forces,” Kim said, according to a report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“The situation has obviously changed now,” Kim said.
“The combat capabilities of our navy will be greater than anyone could have imagined.”
North Korea’s navy has long been overshadowed by the navies of South Korea and the United States, which deploy modern warships and submarines with sophisticated electronics and powerful missile-launching capabilities.
The destroyer Choi Hyun, which was commissioned on Tuesday, is expected to have anti-ship and land-attack missile capabilities, but neither has been confirmed at this time, analysts said.
Yoo Ji-hoon, a researcher at the South Korean Institute for Defense Analysis, said the new ship is a step forward from North Korea’s traditional naval system, which has relied heavily on “asymmetric coastal forces such as submarines, fast attack craft, coastal artillery, mines, and special forces infiltration.”
“The North Korean Navy is breaking away from its existing coastal defense-centered structure and is attempting to expand its nuclear and missile threats to the maritime domain,” Yu said.
In his speech, Kim said the Choi Hyun would be the first ship in the modern North Korean fleet, with larger vessels to follow.
He alluded to the difficulties along the way, saying that the country’s naval buildup was “by no means smooth sailing,” likely referring to the troubles with the Choi Hyun’s sister ship, the Kang Kong, which capsized during its launch in May 2025.
The Cankong was refloated and launched about a month later and began sea trials earlier this month. Kim said it too would be commissioned “soon.”
He called on North Korean shipyards to build two new surface ships a year, including a cruiser twice the size of the Choe Hyon.
Although Mr. Kim emphasized that the new warships are completely domestically produced, Leif Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the pace of shipbuilding may indicate otherwise.
“The speed and intended size of Kim Jong Un’s naval buildup suggests that North Korea may be receiving significant material and technological assistance from Russia,” Easley said, noting that North Korea is sending troops and weapons to Russia to support the war in Ukraine.
Still, analysts said North Korea has a long way to go to match South Korea and its ally the United States, which has dozens of destroyers equipped with the latest missiles and combat systems.
Karl Schuster, former director of the U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Information Center, said, “I don’t think (Choi Hyun) directly poses a new threat to South Korea.”
“Ships in conflict have limited survivability,” he said.
But it’s something that must be considered in mission planning, he said.
“North Korea is potentially forcing the United States, Japan, and South Korea to expand surveillance of the North Korean navy,” he said.
And the fact that the 5,000-ton ship is North Korea’s first full-fledged ocean-going warship adds new calculus to enforcement of UN arms sanctions against the Kim regime.
For example, “warships escorting maritime arms shipments complicate interception and embarkation operations,” Schuster said.
South Korean analyst Yoo also said that the South Korean government cannot dismiss North Korea’s new ships.
“Even if it is not as good as a fully modern destroyer, if it is used as a missile launch pad or as a means of escalating a crisis, it could pose a significant burden to South Korea’s national security,” Yoo said.
