In North Korea, an accident occurred in the presence of Kim Jong-un during the launching of a destroyer
In the DPRK, an accident occurred at the Chongjin shipyard during the launching of a new destroyer with a displacement of 5 thousand tons. The vessel was damaged, which, according to the North Korean KCNA news agency, will have to be repaired in the near future. The ceremony was attended by the country's leader Kim Jong-un, who was outraged by the incident. It is reported that both party workers and shipyard employees will be punished for this incident.
On May 21, an accident occurred at the North Korean Chongjin shipyard during the launching of a new destroyer, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported . The incident occurred in the presence of the country's leader, Kim Jong-un.
The ship was damaged, Kim Jong-un called the incident "an unacceptable serious incident and a crime caused simply by carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism."
It follows from the KCNA report that a so-called lateral descent was attempted at the shipyard in Chongjin, that is, the ship was facing the water line. The accident occurred due to a violation of the parallelism of the trolleys, "as a result of which the launching carriage, on which the stern of the vessel was sitting, prematurely left the path and settled." The ship's balance was disrupted, it suffered damage to the bottom, and the destroyer's bow did not come off the slipway.
- KCNA cites the words of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The country's leadership considered the incident serious, "discrediting the authority and dignity of the state in an instant." It will be considered at the next plenum of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. Judging by the KCNA report, many people will be punished, from senior party officials to the ship's design developers and shipyard workers.
"It is unclear what kind of retaliation they may face," the BBC notes in this regard.
The damage is ordered to be repaired before the beginning of the plenum of the party, which will be convened in the last decade of the month, that is, between June 20 and June 30.
The cause of the accident
The Guardian, citing the South Korean military, reports that the ship was lying on its side in the water after the accident. According to the newspaper, the failure could have occurred due to a new method for North Korea to descend from an incline-free berth, which had not previously been observed in this country.
"Commercial satellite images of the shipyard, taken the day before launching, show that the destroyer is moored with auxiliary vessels next to it," writes The Guardian.
What is known about the destroyer
The KCNA does not report anything about the destroyer itself, except for the displacement (5 thousand tons). In comparison with other countries, it can be called average: the displacement of ships of this class varies from 2,500 to 10,000 tons.
More recently, on April 26, another destroyer of similar dimensions was launched in North Korea, presumably built according to the same project. A little more was reported about him.
"The multi-purpose destroyer of the latest type, which is a product of the complex economic potential of the state and a combination of technologies in the field of self-defense, is equipped with powerful systems of ultra-modern strike weapons of our type, which do not allow comparison," the KCNA news agency wrote about it.
The publication noted that the ship has "a comprehensive combat capability with its main core - nuclear weapons." It was built in record time, "in over 400 days" at the expense of North Korea's "own forces and technologies." The ship was named "Choe Hyun" in honor of the famous Korean military commander and "a veteran of the anti-Japanese revolution, who embodied boundless loyalty to the leader."
The Guardian, citing experts, notes that the ship "can be equipped with short-range tactical nuclear missiles, although North Korea has not proven that it is capable of miniaturizing its atomic bombs."
The British publication suggests that the destroyer could have been developed with the help of Russia, but the only possible confirmation of this is the fact that "the Chongjin shipyard is located near the Russian port of Vladivostok."
Alexander Kondratiev
