North Korea's Kim tours 'huge' warship, orders shipyard upgrades — SkimNews
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- Kim Jong Un inspected construction of a new warship at Nampho Shipyard on the west coast during a Monday visit reported on Nov. 4; KCNA described it as “incomparably huge” compared with the destroyer built last year.
- North Korea is building its third Choe Hyon-class destroyer under Kim Jong Un’s five-year defence development plan, which aims to produce two surface warships every year.
- Korea Defense and Security Forum said KCNA photos showed the first published image of a 10,000-ton cruiser under construction and assessed that it was likely to carry a significant number of cruise missiles for longer-range ship-to-surface attack.
- Nampho Shipyard is a major naval yard where North Korea previously built a destroyer; October satellite images showed that destroyer undergoing major expansion.
- North Korea test-fired anti-warship missiles in April to assess a destroyer’s efficiency; in July, Kim Jong Un observed a strategic cruise-missile test and evaluations of anti-ship systems aboard a naval destroyer.
- KCNA reported that Kim Jong Un called expanding existing shipyards’ capacity and increasing their operating rate important to developing the marine industry and securing North Korea’s sea border.
Why it matters: North Korea’s five-year plan sets a pace of two surface warships per year, so Kim’s call to expand existing shipyards and increase operating rates directly addresses production capacity. The 10,000-ton cruiser and KDSF’s assessment that it is likely to carry significant cruise-missile armament extend the focus beyond hull size to longer-range ship-to-surface attack.
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