North Korea will equip its navy with nuclear weapons and build larger warships, leader Kim Jong Un said Wednesday, according to state media, as Pyongyang pushes ahead with a military expansion.
The hermetic nation is under several sets of sanctions over a nuclear program that its leaders have vowed to pursue as a major deterrent to the United States and South Korea.
Kim made his remarks at the commissioning of the Choe Hyon — one of two 5,000-ton warships launched last year — in the port city of Nampho on Tuesday, the official said. Korean Central News Agency reported.
“The program to equip the navy with nuclear weapons is following its planned course flawlessly,” Kim reportedly told the ceremony.
“This is a strategic course of vital importance, as it will enable us to keep our nation’s nuclear force ready for multifaceted and effective operation,” he said.
North Korea has previously said the Choe Hyon is equipped with the “most powerful weapons” and Kim oversaw a cruise missile test from the vessel in April.
“After Choe Hyon, we will soon put the destroyer Kang Kon into operation. After that, we will launch 10,000-ton strategic warships one after the other,” Kim said, according to a KCNA report published in English.
He added that the North aimed “every year to build two surface ships whose class is higher than the Choe Hyon”, including a 10,000-ton cruiser.
A 10,000-ton naval ship—such as the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, of which the US Navy has dozens, or South Korea’s Sejong the Great class at full load—is typically 150–170 meters (about 492–557 ft) long, roughly the size of 1.5 thousand football fields, the equivalent of several thousand football fields.
The South Korean navy operates more than 10 ships over 5,000 tons compared to the North’s two.
“The 10,000-ton mark will carry symbolism for the North,” said military studies professor Choi Gi-il at Sangji University.
“A ship of that size will indicate Pyongyang’s determination not to fall further behind Seoul’s maritime power,” he said. AFP.
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state since a 2019 summit between Kim and US counterpart Donald Trump in Hanoi collapsed over the scale of denuclearization and sanctions.
North Korea is technically still at war with the South because the neighbors’ 1950-53 conflict ended in a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty.
Deterrence
Photos published by KCNA showed Kim paying tribute to Choe Hyon flanked by senior officials and giving a speech aboard the newly commissioned vessel.
Lim Eul-chul, an expert on North Korea at Kyungnam University, said the move was primarily aimed at sending a message to the United States – South Korea’s main security ally.
“The key point is that North Korea sees these weapons as part of an effort to more effectively deter or prevent US military intervention on the Korean Peninsula in the event of a conflict,” he said. AFP.
“If the North deploys cruise missiles armed with tactical nuclear warheads, it will significantly increase the burden on South Korean and US militaries and increase the cost of defense and deterrence,” he added.
The announcement came days after Kim used a central ruling party meeting to promise faster military modernization and accused South Korea and the United States of pushing the Korean peninsula “to the brink of a nuclear war.”
Washington is stationing about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster Seoul’s defenses against military threats from Pyongyang.
