North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has lashed out over a major mishap during the launch of a new warship, calling the incident a “serious accident” and a “criminal act” that dealt a heavy blow to national pride.
The accident occurred Thursday at a shipyard in the eastern port city of Chongjin, where Kim attended the unveiling of a new 5,000-ton multipurpose destroyer. According to state media, part of the vessel’s bottom was crushed during the launch, tipping the ship off balance and sparking outrage from the regime’s leader.
“The dignity and pride of our nation were severely damaged in an instant,” Kim declared, blaming the disaster on “absolute carelessness, irresponsibility, and unscientific empiricism.”
Kim has ordered the warship to be fully restored before a crucial party plenary in June and demanded that those responsible for the design and construction be held accountable. While no casualties have been reported, the failure has triggered an internal reckoning within the country’s tightly controlled defense sector.
This rare public admission of a military failure underscores the regime’s frustration. In recent years, Pyongyang has occasionally disclosed high-profile accidents, including failed satellite launches, as it pushes an aggressive agenda of military modernization.
The failed launch follows North Korea’s unveiling of the same class of destroyer on the west coast weeks earlier, which state media boasted could carry more than 70 missiles. Kim had hailed that vessel as a “breakthrough” in naval capabilities and vowed its deployment early next year.
Now, the latest setback threatens to overshadow those ambitions—and sends a clear warning to those within the regime: mistakes, especially in front of Kim, will not go unpunished.
